Of prey and predators
by AnimeEverywhere
Summary: AU. Sakura and her little adventure in the forest at the age of 6. An age, where the world seems a bit more colorful, a bit more fun, and a lot more innocent. [Rated T for violence, profanity and sexual references]
1. The princess and the balls

**Chapter 1 - The princess and the balls**

When Sakura was 6 she met the strangest human being. She should have feared him, resembling a wild beast eating a rabbit more than a human being. Crouched, with both hands holding the rabbit on the ground. And because her parents had taught her to treat everyone like how she wanted to get treated in return, she smiled cutely at him.

"You must be really hungry, ne?" The naked boy watched her like she was the one, who just killed a rabbit by biting down on its head. Alive. The rabbit was alive just moments ago. Any other kid might have thought it strange, could have screamed or run away, but not her. Just the other day, she learnt that there were people in this world, who ate with cutlets called 'fork' and 'knife' instead of chopsticks. How strange, right? That's what she thought too. Surely, there also must be people, who eat animals alive by biting off their heads.

So that didn't lessen her smile one bit, and instead of screaming and running away, she approached him, and the redhaired boy, with the rabbit in his mouth, backed away. The rabbit twitched with his hindlegs, however, that wasn't what Sakura was focused on. He had retreated on his legs and arms. On arms and legs! _Just like an animal_, she thought amazed.  
Her stomach gave a hollow rumble, reminding her, that she hadn't eaten anything since this morning – which was a couple of hours ago – and she blushed lightly. Not that she wanted to eat the rabbit, no, thank you very much. But her mommy always reprimanded her, "The stomach of a lady doesn't rumble!".

The blood-stained boy withdrew a few more steps after hearing her belly rumble, which made Sakura scrunch up her nose in return. "I'm not going to steal your rabbit", she exclaimed, almost pouting. Tired from her long walk around the forest, she decided to sit down on the dirty ground, not minding at all that her pretty lime green dress was getting dirty. The wild boy had her full attention. Slowly, she shrugged off her small backpack and opened it, always keeping her eyes on the dirty boy. She figured out, that slow movements didn't agitate him as much as fast movements did. She fished her egg-ham-sandwich out of her bag and held it like it was her most-prized thing in the world, which, considering her stomach, kind of was at this moment. "My mommy made this for me", she explained proudly and bit hungrily into her sandwich. Soon enough the lost boy pinned his meal on the ground, again with both hands, and devoured it.

While they ate in shared silence, Sakura watched the crouched naked boy and he in return was keeping his eyes on her. First looking at her face, then her hair (_yes, they are pink_), then down to her pale arms and legs. He blinked confused and looked at his own sun-tanned limbs. His hair had the same color as the rabbit's blood he was chewing on and around his eyes were dark circles. Just like those panda bears or racoons she saw pictured in her animal book. But what intrigued her the most were his eyes. They were light green almost like her own, just a few shades lighter.

"I'm Sakura. What's your name?" She managed to ask in-between bites. "Grr…" Came the reply. He almost sounded like a wolf. At least he was not so silent anymore. "Hm… If you don't have a name, how about I give you one?" Sakura wasn't sure if he even understood what she said but continued anyway. "How about… Hm… Akio!" Proudly, she smiled at him and nodded her head. "Akio. I like it. Do you like it?" A growl was her response. Again, Sakura nodded to herself. Yes, he likes it, was what she heard.

It didn't occur to her before, but now that she wasn't staring at his face anymore, and instead, looking at his lower naked and dirty bony body, she could see something that wasn't supposed to be there. Or was it? Just between his legs. She knew her body looked different down there. Maybe her mommy would know what that was. She'll just have to remember to ask her later, when she managed to get out of this forest. Which reminded her of how she was still lost in this huge dark forest. But now that she wasn't alone anymore, it wasn't as huge and as dark as it was before, thankfully. She didn't even cry this time. Her daddy is going to praise her a lot again. When she gets out of this forest.

"Akio aren't you cold?" Startled, Akio growled at her, tossed his almost-finished rabbit away and was in front of her before she could even blink. Immediately, she held her breath. He seemed to be listening intently for something, eyes roaming around and stopping at random spots. Akio was so close to her, she could even see herself reflected in his eyes.

He smelled like the forest itself, the barks of trees and the scent of flowers, despite the still-fresh blood tracks around his mouth. He appeared so bewildered, half crouching on the ground. His skin looked like it was made of sand, still tanned, but rather rough than smooth. She didn't even notice she was stretching her arm towards him, until he flinched away from her and she let her arm float midair, still near enough to touch him. Time went by and he seemed to have relaxed a tiny bit. So, she dared to move again.

Slowly, she held her palm downwards towards his face to let him snuffle on it, just like how her mommy taught her the other day – that was with their neighbor's dog Akamaru – and there. After a moment he sniffed on her hand, bumped on it a few times and looked at her with his bright clear eyes, as if to say, _Yes, now I know who you are._ She giggled and opened her palm for him to lick the sandwich crumbles off her hand. Her sandwich forgotten on her other hand.

"Do you like it? I like egg and ham too." Minding his stiffness, she showed him her sandwich slowly, and after another sniff he bit into it. Sakura tried to stifle out her giggles, but he looked so perplexed that she couldn't contain her giggles any longer and let them out. Akio was desperately trying to eat the sandwich without his hands and by doing so, the egg and ham, as well as the lettuce and the bread got scattered on the forest floor. It seems like he was going to eat them separately, starting with the ham.

"Wait Akio! This isn't how you are supposed to eat a sandwich!" Sakura exclaimed. "See, you have to use both hands to hold them together", she explained and tried to get as much dirt off the lettuce, ham and eggs as possible. Clumsily, she put the ingredients into the right order. Then, she calmly reached for his blood-stained hands. Again, he flinched on contact, but this time he didn't retract his hands. _It really feels like sand_. Sakura lightly rubbed circles with her thump on the back of his hands. "Use your hands like this", guiding his paws carefully with her fingers to hold the sandwich firmly, she instructed, "and then bite it off." Akio was watching her intently and when she indicated him to eat the sandwich, he did. Satisfied with her work, Sakura released his hands.

Suddenly, there was a rustle in the bush nearby and both kids froze on the spot. Sakura's eyes widened, her breath hitched and her hands trembled. Scarcely, she noticed how the half-eaten sandwich fell to the ground. She snatched her eyes away from it and instead looked at Akio. He growled, but otherwise didn't seem to be surprised at their clearly not-human guest.

There, not five meters away from her, was a big grey wolf. He neared them and seemed to communicate with Akio through growls and hisses. It kind of reminded her of Kiba-kun and Akamaru, since Akio seemed to understand him. Totally not like her playing dog-talking with Akamaru. The grey wolf then growled at her intimately. However, before he could come into her five-meter-radius, Akio was there, crouching protectively in front of her and putting his behind right in front of her face. Instead of wondering about the small bouncing balls in her face though, she was more concerned by the beast, who got more agitated with every passing second. And this got Akio more restless as well, which then made Sakura much more nervous too.

All of a sudden, both Akio and the wolf looked to the right into the thick forest and Sakura, confused, mimicked them belatedly. She couldn't figure out what got their attention. There were trees over trees and bushes over bushes. Nothing to be wary of, besides, well, the wolf, of course. She was about to turn her head again towards the aforementioned wolf, but then she heard it too. Faint noises. Almost too faint to catch through the singing birds and chirping insects around them. But it was there. The barking of dogs could be heard along with the noises made by humans. They were too far away for her to understand what they were talking about, but surely, they would hear her if she dared to scream. But she didn't.

The big wolf growled again, more like hissed into the forest, and Akio mimicked him. With every passing second, the voices got louder. And moments before she could hear them, the wild dog turned back towards the tensed kids, huffed at them and then bolted into the huge dark forest. Away from the noises, away from humans, away from danger.

"Sakura!", was screamed through the forest, she panicked a little. They were searching for her! The dog barks got louder as well. They were near, they'd be here any minute now. Akio seemed unsure of his actions. He was tiptoeing on his skinny legs and arms, growling under his breath, talking to himself. Never staying in one place for too long. First forward into the deep forest, and then back again, crouching in front of Sakura, as if to protect her. Sakura wasn't sure from what.

He seemed to have come to an agreement with himself, because the next minute, he was bouncing into the opposite direction from the noises, going deep into the forest, following the route the scary wolf took moments ago. Before Sakura could manage to utter anything, some kind of goodbye, Akio was almost gone into the bushes. His bright red hair the only thing she could see. One last time, he turned his head around and when they made eye contact, she waved at him. And then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

* * *

"Oh! And Daddy! I've met a racoon-wolf inside the forest!"

"Is that so, princess?" _A racoon? In this forest? Who looked like a wolf?_

"Yes! And I named him Akio! You know? Just like the dog Hana-oneesan and Kiba-kun showed me before!"

"Eh? So was he the black sheep in his family too?" _Or not. Seems like she's been fantasizing all day long again. _

"Black sheep? No! Silly daddy! He was not black, and he was not a sheep as well! He's got the same hair color as Akio!" Kizashi smiled to himself and gave an affirmative hum. _So, he has this peculiar red fur color as well. Next time she's seeing a dragon speaking human language._

"Oh! And I taught him how to eat a sandwich with his hands! And there was a rabbit too! But the head got separated from its body. But the body was still moving!" Sakura excitedly blabbered on, making it hard for her father to respond. "Whoa, slow down Sakura. One thing after the other." _Thank kami, she wasn't hurt. Otherwise I would have killed myself. Scratch that, Mebuki would have killed me first. _

All of a sudden, Kizashi felt like the air got 10˚C colder. He shivered and hugged Sakura closer to him. "Say princess, is it just Daddy or did the temperature suddenly drop?" He murmured playfully into her ear. "Silly daddy! It's super-hot right now!" Sakura giggled but hugged him back just as earnestly.

* * *

"Mommy?" Little Sakura asked from the living room. It was late in the afternoon.

"Yes, sweetie?", came a reply from the kitchen. "Why did Akio have a ball?" Sakura was absentmindedly playing with her favorite doll.

"A ball? What kind of ball?"

"A ball. You know? It doesn't seem like it gets off!" Sakura exclaimed confused. She scampered over to the kitchen entrance and made a full-stop there. _No playing inside the kitchen_, her mind scolded, imitating her mother's voice_._

"Maybe he was playing with the ball", answered Mebuki, who was busy preparing dinner and was only half-listening to her daughter.

"No, he wasn't! It was stuck to him the whole time!" Sakura got impatient and shouted, "Right here!"

"Where, sweetie?" Hearing her daughter's desperate voice, Mebuki turned her head around.

"Right here Mommy!" Sakura grabbed between her legs, indicating where the ball got stuck. Kizashi, who just came out from the bathroom, witnessed the last scene and a loud roaring laughter could be heard echoing around the cozy small home.

* * *

Author's note  
I do not own Naruto. This is purely for entertainment purposes.  
This is my first story. So i'm still experimenting this new world of fanfiction.  
I appreciate every favorite, follow and review i get!  
And lastly, thanks for reading.


	2. Saya-chan and this beast

**Chapter 2 - Saya-chan and... this beast  
**

Time went by. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. Slowly but surely, Sakura's little adventure in the forest was remembered more like a blessing in disguise, more dreamlike than reality-based. But like every other story, just before she forgot about her extraordinary friend, they met again.

* * *

_\- - - - - 10 years later - - - - - _

"Kiba-kun, hurry!" Sakura screamed desperately. It was early morning; the air was chilly but fresh. There was still light in Kiba's room, so the pink-haired student knew he was still in his room. _Why does he always have to be this late?_ Kiba lived just around the corner to her house. On the other side was the bus station. So sadly, for Sakura, they met every morning in front of his house and went to school together.

"Sorry, sorry, Saya-chan! Akamaru had to take a dump."

"Yeah, sure. Inside the house. Right." Sakura sighed and left it at that_. _Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the bus.

"Shit!" She murmured under her breath and sprinted to the bus station. Moments later Kiba and Akamaru were next to her. Both looked so happy and she had to suppress her smile, less Kiba-kun's not going to stop babbling the whole day again.

"Just why are you so happy to run in the morning", asked Sakura rhetorically, to divert his attention.

"Morning jog is the best!" Kiba hollered and Akamaru barked his agreement. They found themselves a place at the back of the bus and settled down.

"You know Saya-chan, I haven't played League of Legends for a while now, so yesterday I finally started again!" _Great, here it goes again. _Sounds like he did see her smile. Sakura didn't even have to try to sound disinterested, but she smiled to herself anyway. _An ordinary day like every other day_, she thought. Absentmindedly, she reached for Akamaru, leaned on Kiba's shoulder, closed her eyes and hummed every now and then. Her greatest challenge this morning – like all the other mornings – was to get Kiba to lower his voice to a decent level.

* * *

"... so I reached Plati-"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

Kiba was interrupted mid-sentence. In front of the entrance to Konoha High School, a huge crowd of students were blocking the way. It looked like some upperclassmen were bullying an underclassman. _Just where are the teachers when we need them_. Sakura wanted to drag Kiba-kun away from the crowd, but he didn't budge one bit. Annoyed, she turned around to reprimand him, but he stubbornly shook his head and pointed to the fight scene.

"We need to help him. Why did he have to piss off Hidan-senpai of all people." Kiba murmured and tried to fight his way into the crowd. Sighing heavily, Sakura followed him.

"Are you mute now too? EH?" Before Hidan-senpai could start a real fight, Kiba-kun intervened. Sakura, on the other hand, took her time to survey the area. It had always been like this, Kiba, the hot-headed one, jumped right into a fight and Sakura, the rational one, checked the surroundings for unexpected danger.

Now that she was more focused on the ruckus in front of her, she realized, that the students forming the crowd weren't actually staring dumbly, like she thought they were. In fact, they were trying to move around the fight, but because the Senpais were literally standing in front of the gate entrance, they couldn't pass. Everyone knew that the Senpais – or more precise the Akatsuki as they liked to call themselves – weren't fun to be around when they weren't in a good mood. Okay, they were never fun to be around.

Content that nothing was going to be of a greater threat than the fight in front of her, she let her eyes wander to the troublesome guy. Facing the Akatsuki, his back was turned to Sakura, his long dirty red mane the only notable characteristic, other than his clothing. Even though he did wear the official school uniform, he didn't follow the dress code. Despite the frosty air he only wore a simple white shirt, not even bothering to button it up. The navy-blue jacket wasn't in sight anywhere and neither was his necktie. _At least he's wearing trousers._

This sight shouldn't have surprised anyone, since the Akatsuki wasn't any better. They weren't exactly perfect role models, but due to their high status in society nobody was able to touch them. Even the headmaster was lax when it concerns them. With the right connections and enough money, you could even kill someone in front of the whole police department and walk out of the trial with clean hands. That's how scary the country was, they're living in.

The school bell chimed, marking the five-minute countdown 'till the beginning of classes, and right on cue, the bizarre guy walked straight towards Hidan. The crowd was abruptly silent, nobody dared to move. Even the Senpais were wordlessly observing his next step. Ignoring everything around him, the small guy stepped around Hidan and trudged inside the school ground. You could almost hear what everyone was thinking.

_Not good…_

"What the fuck is your problem!" Hidan roared. Despite Kiba-kun's persistent attempts to block Hidan-senpai's way, he was of no hindrance for the well-build upperclassmen. However, before Hidan could grab the meager red-haired boy, he vanished.

Meters away from the raging trouble, the red-head reappeared, crouched on all four. A wind gust came up and his long mane was blown out of his face. Even though his face was impassive, his stance said he was anything but. His thin shirt too was blown backwards, showing his thin, naked body.

_Wait… _Sakura's eyes widened. _No way. This posture… This reaction… It can't be…_

It was the same bony, sun-tanned body. Less dirty than last time, but, aside from those prominent scars marring his body, almost an exact replica of her memory. His bright blood-red hair had turned a few shades darker and so much longer, obscuring his view on them. _But also, from ours on him._

"A… Akio?" Sakura whispered confused. The red-head turned his eyes away from the inconvenience in front of him and stared, just as perplexed, into nostalgic green eyes. Strange how nobody heard her, even though they were standing so much closer to her. Yet the one, whose name she called, crouching meters away, did. She wasn't even aware that she was moving towards him, until an arm blocked her way.

"Don't." Sasuke was standing protectively in front of her, arm outstretched, holding her back, his watchful eyes trained on Akio.

"Who's that?" Kiba too has moved next to her with Akamaru growling intimately beside him. This only seemed to agitate Akio more and while hissing softly, he edged a step back. Still observing him intently, Sasuke shifted his foot an inch forward, trying to deviate the beast's attention from Sakura to himself. Any moment now and the wild boy was going to pounce.

"Stop it, both of you!", Sakura tried to push Sasuke's arm away, "You're making him nervous!"

"He's the one who's making us nervous!" Kiba felt uneasy and sensing his distress, Akamaru started barking. It didn't even look like Sasuke's arm was going to budge an inch and hearing Akio shift restlessly, Sakura stopped in her motion. _I have to calm down. _Closing her eyes briefly, she took a deep breath in and out. _You're not seeing the whole picture, sweetie_, her mind supplied helpfully. Feeling the weight loss on his arms, Sasuke glanced back and retreated his own arm back towards his side.

The crowd had dissipated, undoubtedly either because the Akatsuki or Akio made them. Itachi had been standing next to Sasuke for a while now, and even the other Senpais were nearby. They stood a bit away from each other, still near enough to act fast, in case something happened. It looked a bit like they were caging the scared boy in. _Nothing less expected from the student council._

Hidan was nowhere to be seen, but he was definitely heard by everyone, cussing every single profanity existing out there. He must have been dragged away to prevent an escalation. Moreover, someone must have alerted the teachers, because from the school building Gai-sensei and Asuma-sensei were running towards them.

Straightening her back and looking calmer than she really felt, Sakura flashed a bright, honest smile.

"I've missed you, Akio."

Unbeknownst to her, just this one sentence made him happy for the first time in a long while.

* * *

Kiba had never been the most patient guy. Hell, he might even be the first one you'd think of, hearing the word 'impatient', right after Naruto maybe. So, when Sakura told him to 'be patient' and to 'wait until I come back', it wasn't the easiest request for him to do. Sure, he knew Sakura wasn't 6 anymore and yes, she was able to protect herself when needed, but this 'Akio'-guy smelled of bad news. Even Akamaru didn't like him, and Akamaru liked everyone!

Tapping his foot nervously, Kiba sighed for the hundredth time. It has already been 15 minutes since she went with this skinny-freak to the headmaster's office. And Kakashi-sensei wasn't even here yet.

"Damnit, Kiba, stop that!" Sasuke wasn't in any better mood either. However, he was better in controlling himself than Kiba was. If they hadn't been in the same class since primary school, Kiba would have thought it didn't bother him in the least. However, he did notice how Sasuke was glancing at the classroom door every now and then.

All of a sudden, the door swung open. Several eye pairs were drawn to the entrance. Almost instantly, Kiba and Sasuke stood up from their respective seats, both hoping to see a certain pink-haired beauty.

"Hey guys! What's up!" But in came Naruto. Half-grunting, half-sighing, Kiba sunk to his seat once more.

"Guess what? Guess what?", the loudmouth screamed excitedly, "We're getting a new student! As of today!" That peaked Kiba's interest. Even Sasuke thought better than to insult-greet him.

"Please don't let his name be Akio." Kiba just barely managed to stop himself from shaking Naruto. As the son of the Hokage, he still had valuable information.

"Akio? No, his name is Gaara. Who's Akio by the way? And where's Sakura-chan?" Turning his head around, he searched for his female best friend. Strange, Sakura usually came with Kiba, and everyone else seemed to be in the classroom.

"N-Naruto-kun! Good morning." From the back of the classroom, Hinata and Ino were approaching the boys. "You're pretty late, Naruto! You know something about the fight this morning?"

Both girls were already in the classroom when the fight happened and only heard about it from their classmates. When Kiba and Sasuke entered the room, they thought it was better to leave them alone for the moment. Both guys looked quite distraught and so, the girls decided not to bother them.

Naruto smiled brightly and gave Hinata's cheek a peck. On any other days, Kiba would have made fun of Naruto, how he was acting all gentlemanly, even though he was radiating off tons of testosterone whenever Hinata's nearby, but not today.

"Focus for once Naruto. Does this Gaara has long red hair and acts like a wild animal?" Even Naruto noticed how edgy Kiba was. It definitely had something to do with Sakura's absence, if Kiba didn't outright say that she was at home with an illness. Even Sasuke hadn't insulted him once this morning. He's been silently brooding over something and Naruto didn't like their combi one bit.

"I don't know how he looks like, but Dad said we'd get a 'special' classmate. He even drove me to school today, said he'd have to meet up with Oji-chan to talk about this Gaara guy. That's everything I know."

"So, M-Minato-san is in the headmaster's office now? Together with Sakura-chan, Sarutobi-sensei and Akio-san? I wonder what they are talking about..."

In the next second, Kiba was up and disappeared out of the door.

"Hey, where are you going? Classes might start every second!"

"That's why you'll stay here and tell Kakashi-sensei that something urgent came up." Sasuke went after Kiba and left a dumbfounded Naruto behind.

* * *

The first few seconds alone in the infirmary were rather awkward, with silence greeting them and only blank walls to stare at. So, Sakura figured they could also use the time to get to know each other better.

Having made up her mind, she turned around and leaned back in surprise, seeing Akio a few inches away. _I didn't even hear him getting closer. _He paused and - Sakura guessed by the air movements of his hair in front of his face - seemed to be sniffing the air, until he leaned over her and snuffled again, near her neck. _He's trying to memorize my body odor... or something like that._

Growing up with Kiba-kun, she was in contact with a lot of dogs, especially Akamaru and thanks to that, she learnt one or two things considering animals and their behavior. Still, that didn't mean she wasn't blushing violently. Just imagining someone seeing them like this.

_Remember; slow movements don't agitate him as much as fast movements do. _

_Well, gee, thanks I know that already. _Bit by bit, Sakura moved her hands towards Ak- _No. Gaara. I shouldn't call him Akio anymore.  
_

"G-Gaara." Sakura tried to use his 'given' name. Even though she wanted nothing more than to punch whoever came up with such an awful name -_ which sick bastard would call his son self-loving monster? -_ unperceived by her, he seemed to like it whenever she called him by his name.

"Gaara-san." She tried again and this time she saw his tiny little smile, hidden beneath his long messy hair. Sakura smiled reassuringly and stopped her hands, balm turned downwards, right before where she guessed his nose was. He sniffed on it a few times and gave her knuckles a tiny lick of approval.

They were standing opposite each other - her slightly taller than him - in the infirmary, which was located just around the corner to the headmaster's office. Only moments ago, they were gathered in there together with Sarutobi-sama, Kakashi-sensei, Shishou, Yashamaru-san (who was Gaara's guardian), and even Hokage-sama himself. After asking about their relationship, Sarutobi-sama reprimanded her, _"Sakura-kun, his name is Gaara now. Please refrain from using your chosen name for him to avoid confusion."_

Kakashi-sensei then assigned her to help Gaara-kun around, until he's gotten used to it all. She didn't mind that, after all, as one of two class representatives, it was already a part of her job.

Gaara was fully capable of understanding them and according to Yashamaru, he was also able to speak, if only broken. If they weren't authorities Sakura respected, she would have given them her two cents. Talking about people like they weren't sitting right next to them. She absolutely hated that. Surprisingly, at least to Sakura, Gaara wasn't bothered at all during their whole conversation. From Minato's view, he would even say Gaara-kun was content with only having a specific pink-haired woman around.

Both students were dismissed after that and her shishou told her to wait in the infirmary. She wanted to do just that, but _someone_ didn't want to leave her side even when she told him, _"You should head back to class first, I'll follow in a minute." _As a result, she took him with her. _Shishou won't mind, I think. _

Feeling rough hands on her own, Sakura was drawn back to the reality. Calmly, she opened her hands and let him snuggle his nose into it.

"Sak... Sakur... a..." Absolutely speechless, Sakura almost dropped her hand. If it hadn't been this silent in the room, she was sure she wouldn't have heard him. The initial shock faded, and she rewarded him with a happy smile instead of her gaping-fish-look. Though, in the next moment, she wanted to snort, as a result of him tardily whispering a 'kun' after her name.

"Yes. I'm Sakura. Do you remember me?" Tentatively, she reached behind his thick hair and cupped his cheek gently. _Rough. Like sand._ The startled boy stilled immediately, both hands still on hers. Sakura took that as a good sign, seeing as he didn't distance himself and with newfound vigor, she reached towards his hair with her other hand.

Putting a few strands aside, she cupped both of his cheeks and watched as his face was revealed to her. His eyes were slightly widened, yet they still held the same intense, light green eyes. The black circles encasing his eyes got more prominent as well, but what got her attention was the scratch on his forehead.

Because of the distance earlier outside, she wasn't sure if she didn't just imagine the scratch on his forehead, but up this close she could see it clearly. It couldn't be called a scratch. On the left corner of his forehead was the kanji 'Ai' engraved. _Love_.

"Who would hurt you so badly... Just what happened to you during all these years?" Visibly upset, she raised her hand to the scar, yet before she could touch it, Gaara yanked his head away and took an impulsive step back.

"I'm sorry, I-" Alarmed, she took a retreating step back herself and withdrew her hands. She didn't succeed due to him grabbing her wrists though. At the same time, a knock resounded inside the room and Tsunade opened the door.

"So, Sakura, there's something I need to... What's going on?" Perplexed by Gaara's action, Sakura tried to pull her arms once more, but his hold on her didn't lessen at all. Confused, she stared questioningly into his blank eyes. Still watching them closely, Tsunade half-heartedly muttered something out into the corridor, then proceeded to close the door and laid some documents on her desk.

On approaching the younglings, the red-head, feeling intimated by her advance, hissed at her. Even going so far as to drag her apprentice behind him. This resulted in said-apprentice scolding the wild boy and then him looking like a rejected-puppy. Sighing heavily, Tsunade turned back to her desk and plumbed down. Opening the document, she scribbled something down.

"Suits me just fine. I wanted to talk to you in private about a new assignment I'd like to give you, concerning a certain someone", here she looked pointedly at Gaara, "but it might be even better for him to be present."

"As we've told you before, Gaara-kun here was raised by a wolf until two years ago and sadly, even after his adoption, he didn't get the rightful treatment he deserves, which is why he was sent here..." She considered on adding something, but at the end decided against it.

While Tsunade was skipping through the shamefully thin files on Gaara, which was given to her by his incompetent guardian, Sakura was trying her best to follow her shishou's talking. Gaara on the other hand, who noticed Sakura's diverted attention from him to this noisy human, was unsuccessfully attempting to get her to focus on him again.

"... So, I want you to evaluate him. As practice. Of course, only if he is willing to let you. Try to find out how much he understands, where his problems lie, how he interacts with his surroundings, etcetera etcetera. You know the deal. Oh, and if you see it fit, try to teach him a few things." She left the 'You seem to be the only person he lets in'-part unsaid.

Hearing a slap resonating around the infirmary, she turned towards the children. Tsunade wasn't sure if she was supposed to snicker, to punch his daylights out or to ignore it. For her apprentice's sake, she chose the latter, still, she took a mental note to write down '_Likes to get touchy with Sakura_' for future references anyway.

_Brat_, she thought somewhat pissed, _you sure are particular. _Last time she checked, he hated being near anyone and everyone who breathed and had two arms. _If it wasn't for Sakura's once in a lifetime expression _\- who was beet red and frozen still - _I'd have chopped off your hands before you could even try to comprehend what happened. You sure got guts to do that in front of me, of all people._

Somewhere, during Tsunade's monologue, Sakura felt her hands being pulled to Gaara's messy hair, or more precise, to his head. _He seems to like getting patted on the head. _To keep him satisfied, so as to be able to fully concentrate on what Shishou has to say, she patted him and gave his scalp a massage. Just like how she would give one to Akamaru every morning.

However, after a while, her attention was abruptly drawn to Gaara. She wasn't sure why the hell he did that, but all of a sudden, she felt his hands near her breast area. Acting on instinct, she slapped him with as much strength she could muster in a split second. It was strong enough to resound throughout the room and fast enough for him to be unable to sense her intention beforehand.

"What happened!" Almost instantly, the door slammed open and Kiba barged in with Sasuke right behind him. It took another split second for Kiba to count two and two together and in the next one, he was about to tear off this beast-in-human-form.

Luckily, Tsunade was standing in front of the bewildered boy and caught the punch meant for him with ease.

"I told you not to interrupt us!" An angry Tsunade was never fun. "GET OUT!" Never.

* * *

Author's note  
I do not own Naruto. This is purely for entertainment purposes.  
Sorry to disappoint anyone, who doesn't like HighSchool-fics. I'll assure you, you won't regret it though (I hope).  
Thanks for all the reviews, favorites and follows! I never knew they'd motivate people (me) this much!  
And also, thank you for reading my humble story.


	3. His master and her dog

**Chapter 3 – His master and her dog**

Sasuke had never been this grateful to Kiba. If dog-boy had acted a second later, the one having detention would have been him. THE Uchiha Sasuke. His father would have been disappointed with him and just imagining Itachi's playful smirk was enough for him to give Kiba a thankful clap on his back.

The brown-haired guy was still too riled-up to notice anything else, he was practically radiating this 'make a wrong move and I'll punch you'-aura. Meanwhile, Sakura decided to walk in-between both wild boys and kept a watchful eye in both directions. Nobody said anything, there wasn't anything to be said. After getting kicked out of the infirmary, they were on their way towards their shared classroom. It was an awkward silence.

Just before they reached the entrance, Sasuke called out to Sakura. "We need to talk." Kiba went in without another word, but Gaara stopped when he felt that Sakura wasn't going in. Thus leading to her turning back towards the strange boy. _He's like a lost dog following his master, _Sasuke thought irritated.

Facing him once again, Sasuke had to look away, less he started shouting at her – for what, he wasn't sure – and that never went well. Her cheeks still had a pink tint on them, and she was chewing on her bottom lip. A habit, which indicated that her mind was working restlessly about something that was bothering her. Her eyes weren't focused on him as well, which further irked him.

From the classroom entrance behind her, Sasuke saw red messy hair sticking out of the doorframe, almost touching the ground. His eyes then moved towards the owner's face and detected piercing green eyes glaring at him. He must be crouching on the floor while spying on them. _This guy really gets on my nerves. _Letting out a heavy sigh, he was surprised to see Sakura looking up at him.

"What is it?" She was finally focused on him.

"Are you okay?", he asked in a low voice to avoid being overheard. Stupid question, but it had to be asked. She would never lie to him. Her eyes widened minutely, but then she smiled.

"Yes. Thank you." _Good. Because I can't guarantee his safety if you're not okay._

"Is that all?" She teased happily and his mind was at peace once again. He gave her a small smile and thought of what more he could say.

"Be careful", he paused for a moment, then added, "And don't get near him."

One moment he was concerned, the next he was smiling and suddenly he was dead-serious. Minding their little spectator, he was trying to send her a secret message through his eyes.

"I'm always careful", Sakura smiled confidently, "But the second 'request' is impossible. Kakashi-sensei already assigned me as his senpai until he got the hang of it."

_What? Kakashi-sensei did? _

Twisting around, Sakura walked back to the classroom, stopped right beside the door and crouched gracefully in front of Gaara, who was still observing them intently. Either she really didn't get his hidden message, or she was choosing to ignore it.

_No, you're definitely not careful, that's why I'm telling you. If you knew who he is, you wouldn't be this trusting._

* * *

_\- - - - - Several days earlier - - - - -_

It wasn't so unheard of for the Hokage to be in the Uchiha district, since the Hokage and the police chief were friends since high school days. It also wasn't a surprise for Hatake Kakashi to be present there, considering the fact, that he was a former police officer until he retired and became a teacher instead.

Further, only a selected few knew that Kakashi was, at that time, working specifically under the Hokage, and thus, the fact that they both came this evening was thought as nothing more than a coincidence.

So, when they stood in front of the Uchiha Main House – first Minato-san and later Kakashi-sensei – Sasuke didn't think twice about the cause for their visit. However, when the adults were calling Itachi and himself to enter his father's study room, he started to think it wasn't as much of a coincidence, as he initially thought it was.

"Itachi. Sasuke. I know this is a bit sudden, but we have an urgent case here and I suggested you two to be tasked with it", standing next to the Hokage, Fugaku was looking straight at both of his sons, "Still. You have the right to decline the offer."

Even though his father said that, it was almost impossible not to accept it. But Sasuke didn't even have to think for a second whether or not to decline the job. His father had never asked him to do anything work-related before! Even Itachi had already accomplished one or two jobs. Sure, he was older, but not by much.

"I'd like to accept the offer, Father." Sasuke declared, standing straighter than before. His father had rarely seen him this determined.

"I accept the offer as well, Father." Hearing Sasuke's reply, Itachi didn't have to consider his options twice as well. If his otouto was already accepting his first job, he wasn't going to let him do it alone. However, Sasuke didn't have to know his reasons.

"Very well. I don't have to remind you; What is being said in here, stays in here." Smiling proudly at both children, Fugaku turned to Minato after their affirmation.

"Thank you for your help, Itachi-kun, Sasuke-kun." Handling both a file, Minato let them read through the contents silently. It was a folder containing information on a specific guy named 'Sabaku no Gaara' with two useless pictures attached on the upper corner.

There wasn't anything identifiable on both of them, really, they were so blurry. On the first one, some skinny boy with red long hair could be seen. He was half-crouching, half-sitting in a corner and looked around the age of 10, if Sasuke had to guess.

There were even less distinguishable things worth noticing on the second picture. More thick red hair and a wide-opened mouth. That was all. It seemed like this Gaara-guy didn't like having his photos taken. Even going so far as to attacking the camera.

"How old is this image?" Itachi was already studying Gaara's background information, when he noticed something. "It says he's about 16. He looks like 10 in this image."

_He's the same age as me? Impossible_. Sasuke turned a page and indeed, it stated 'Age: 16 as of the year 20XX'.

"Right. This picture is about two years old, or so we were told." Minato laughed sheepishly. "Actually, this information didn't come from our database. We didn't have any data on Gaara-kun at all. This was given to us by his guardian, a citizen of Suna."

This was unusual. Living in the 21st century, everyone has to have some kind of data and for the police department of Konoha, one of the five biggest cities in the entire Fire country, not to have any data on someone was sheer unbelievable. _Just who is this guy?_

Looking into this sparse 'data', there were more questions coming up than answers provided. Apparently, Gaara was adopted a year ago by the Sabakuno clan. Apart from that, there was only unimportant facts listed, such as his height and weight, blood pressure, lung capacity, blood type among other things. Aside from the former info – he was definitely underweighted, and not even that was explicitly written down – nothing of importance, for Sasuke at least.

"What happened to him before his adoption?" Sasuke decided to ask, while they returned the files.

It was silent for a moment, until Kakashi-sensei decided to speak up for the first time since they entered the study room. "According to his guardian, he was raised by wolves until he got found at the age of 14. Naturally, that also means nobody really knows what happened to him until then."

"It doesn't make any sense. Why would the Kazekage suddenly adopt another son when he's got two children already? You're hiding something." It wasn't like Itachi to ask many questions. He was always satisfied with the information provided, but this job was something entirely different from those he previously did. And the factor Sasuke played a big role too. Sasuke always played a big role in his life.

Seeing Itachi's reaction to their secretive ways of doing work, Fugaku sighed and gave his friend a reluctant nod. Inwards, Itachi was quite a bit shocked. He really didn't think his own father was the one who was trying to keep them in the dark. Any kind of information might be relevant for the success of the job. Outwards, he didn't so much as blink.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was trying hard not to blush, since he seemed to be the only one in the room, not knowing that the Sabakuno clan was the current Kazekage's clan. Not to mention, that he already had two children. _I still have a lot to learn. Aniki is really amazing. Is it normal for students like us to know about such things? Where does Aniki find the time to research about all that?_ This only fueled his determination to keep quiet about his ignorance and to do some researches later that day. Or else, he might never get another opportunity.

"To put you in on the big picture; The Kazekage had been asking for materialistic and financial help for a while now and I was willing to provide them. But because of his bad reputation, the council had voted and agreed on demanding a request from him. To show how serious he was and that he could be trusted. If he's able to comply with that, they're willing to help him."

Seeing as Minato was giving him a weird glance, Kakashi resumed. "The request was for him to send one of his children to Konoha for a year. He must have been quite desperate, but not stupid. They found a loophole in the contract, that we sent him. So, we think he adopted Gaara-kun from who knows where and made him come instead of his own children. As you can see, Gaara-kun definitely has some… problems."

"He's going to your school starting next week, and we placed him in your class, Sasuke-kun. Your task is to overshadow him. To find out as much as possible, and to protect him from danger. He's still the Kazekage's son, we don't want to have any kind of conflict now, do we? If you deem him dangerous, protect the students and immediately inform one of us. In case of a dire situation, you are also allowed to inform another teacher or an adult."

The entire room was quiet for a few moments. After Minato's conclusion, the adults were letting the youngsters digest the information and the boys were stunned speechless. Finally, Fugaku decided to break the silence.

"But remember, your safety is ranked first and foremost. Just do what you think is right and what you are capable of. I'm trusting you boys. And lastly, don't let his appearance fool you. He could as well be…"

* * *

_\- - - - - At present - - - - -_

When Kiba, still pissed, entered the classroom, he was immediately greeted by the blonde loudmouth. That suited him just fine. He grabbed the blonde from behind and locked him up in a deadlock. Then, he proceeded to grind the blonde's head to let off some steam. Naruto struggled to free himself but ended up screaming for help. Thankfully, Hinata came to Naruto's rescue before any damage could be done.

"What was that for!" Rubbing his head, while reassuring Hinata that everything was fine and that they were just fooling around. But it actually hurt.

"For your unnecessary loud greeting." One last time, Kiba sighed and was back to his old self. He gave his tooth smile and let Naruto punch him once. He deserved it, alright.

"Kiba-kun, you could have just told him that. No need to be so aggressive." Hinata reprimanded him. Feeling the need to act overdramatic, Kiba waved his arms in mock elegance and fell into a deep bow. "I apologize, my lady. I try to reign in my aggression in the future."

This made Hinata huff in annoyance. Kiba-kun never took her seriously. Seeing an unfamiliar guy entering their classroom Naruto forgot about Kiba and his weird behavior and instead was focused on this new guy.

"Who's that?" Turning around, they all watched as the red-head suddenly dropped to the floor and shuffled to the door. Crouching on the ground, he sneak-peeked out of the classroom. The other students in the room were starting to whisper. Before Naruto could beam his way towards the red mop on the floor, Kiba stopped him.

"Believe me. You don't want to meet this guy." Kiba was sporting his serious face again. "Stay away from him."

Grinning foolishly, Naruto's eyes displayed determination his girlfriend had seen so often. Knowing that he could handle himself alright, she let them be. Looking Kiba straight in the eyes, Naruto declared. "You know, it just makes me want to meet this guy even more, if you say that."

Grabbing Kiba's hand from his shoulder, he gave its owner a thump on his chest, before passing him.

"Naruto. Listen to me-"

"No. _You_ listen to me. I don't know what happened between you and him, it's none of my business. But I'd like to give him a chance without any of those stupid rumors or any prejudice clouding my mind. Not even from you, Kiba. So just let me do my thing."

Leaving a stunned Kiba and a very pleased Hinata behind, Naruto made his way towards his target. Half-way through the classroom though, his favorite pink-haired friend got to his target ahead of him.

"Sakura-chan!" He was about to sprint over to them, but someone was pulling him back. Kiba, for sure. Whenever it's about Sakura, Kiba was there in a second. It was kind of creepy, really. Their bond was crazy close.

"Who's that guy! Is that Gaara?" Well, now that the red-head wasn't alone anymore, he could let himself being dragged back. This was fun too and a good revenge for the deadlock. From behind Sakura, his best friend entered the classroom.

"HEY, Sasuke-teme! You all good?" Standing on his own feet again, he waved energetically. Coming straight towards them, Sasuke-teme didn't look 'all good' at all, but the bowl of sunshine ignored it skillfully. This was his face. He looked like that all the time. Whether he was in a good mood or not depends on the answer.

"Hn." Naruto would say he was in an alright-mood.

"Say, your wifey seems to be especially nice to the new guy. You got in a fight with her?" Trying to lighten up the mood, Naruto didn't know he was actually digging his own grave.

"She's not my wife." Sasuke retorted. Feeling a light touch on his forearm, Naruto turned to see Hinata shaking her head. This joke was old, but usually, Sasuke would have this creepy small smile while declining it half-heartedly.

"And we're not fighting." He finished lamely.

* * *

"Gaara-san?" Sakura was imitating the stance the crouching boy behind the classroom door did. From across the room, she could hear Naruto shouting her name and a _"Who's that guy! Is that Gaara?"_ but thankfully, Kiba-kun was enough to keep him there. He knew when she didn't want to be bothered. One look and he knew she was fine and that was all he needed. As long as Sakura could remember, Kiba had always been there.

"I'm letting you off the hook this once with a nice warning; You can't touch people wherever you want. Okay? Especially here", she gestured towards her chest region, "And here", she motioned over her lower region, "are a big taboo."

He didn't know what a taboo was, but he nodded anyways. The important part, he understood. No touching. He just wanted to see her smile again.

"One more thing. I'm not going to apologize for the slap. But I apologize for Kiba-kun's behavior earlier. He just wanted to protect me. You know?" Again, he nodded obediently. Yes, he knew this Kiba-kun wasn't a real threat to him. The dog-boy was easy to figure out. He displayed all his emotions, unlike this other guy. The pale guy with his intense eyes. Gaara couldn't anticipate this one's action at all, and so he tries to stay far away from him.

He glanced over to said-guy and see, he was still staring at him with eyes like those humans back in the desert. How he wanted to gauge out those eyes. Suddenly, his view on him was blocked by a pair of beautiful bright green eyes and this sight alone calmed him down immensely.

"Why are you frowning so much? Did Sasuke do something?" Turning her head around, she was greeted by Sasuke's displeased look. Oddly enough, when he caught her eyes, he did it again. He wiggled with his right eyebrow while staring intently into her eyes. Like he wanted to tell her something without outright saying it. _This is so like him_. _Somebody, figure this out for me already. It's getting ridiculous._

Sighing, she switched her attention back to Gaara. "Just ignore him. He's harmless, so long as you don't get on his bad side... And he's just really cautious around strangers." She reached towards his long hair once more.

"You should get your hair cut. If you don't want people to stare at you, you should blend in with them, you know? Show them that you're not afraid of them and let them stare all they want. Just stare back twice as much." Half-way through her speech, he vehemently shook his head.

"What? You don't want to?" He looked so scared that she decided to drop the issue. For now. "Come on. As your senpai – and as one of the class representatives – I'll introduce you to your classmates. At least try to get along with them."

Sakura stood up and straightened her school uniform. Gaara mimicked her superfluously. There wasn't really anything he could straighten. Giving him a once-over, she asked him, just to be sure. "You don't want to button up your shirt as well, do you?"

Getting her negative confirmation, she spun around – her skirt swirling lovely with her and her back facing the class –, spread her arms wide-open and announced joyfully. "Welcome to class 2-1! Gaara-san, please take care of us."

* * *

Author's note  
I do not own Naruto. This is purely for entertainment purposes.  
This was a hard chap to write. At least Naruto's scene cheered me up.  
Thank you so much for all your reviews, favorites and follows! I'm absorbing them all like a sponge.  
Finally, thank you for reading this story.


	4. Between sanity and madness

**Chapter 4 – Between sanity and madness**

Although it was never arranged, Gaara started waiting for Sakura (and her brown-haired follower) every morning in front of the shoe cabinets. He wished he could be the one, who walked to school with her each morning, instead of this aggressive fellow. But even more than that, he wished for the nuisance with glaring eyes to drop dead and since that obviously didn't work, he'll just be satisfied with waiting for her.

His guardian seemed to like taking him out of their provisional house early in the morning, and Gaara liked the silence the school ground provided, when nobody was there, so he was always an hour earlier at school. Sadly, humans seem to like coming to school earlier than what he would have preferred, because the school was soon filled with students. And, of course, with them also the noise.

"YO! Weirdo!" Gaara was pretty sure this blonde wasn't in his class, so he couldn't have done anything to him. Still, this one guy seemed to like picking fights with him. And since he wasn't the only one, Gaara didn't bother to remember his name. "What a nice pet you are. Waiting for your master aren't cha? HA?"

The crouching boy tried his best to ignore him. Just ignore them all. A little shovel here, a small jab there and they would be on their way. Sometimes they would try to punch him, but he evaded those easily. Nothing to worry about. Still, he was careful not to let his guard down. What annoyed him though, was the shouting. He couldn't do anything about that.

And sure enough, after poking him for the third time, the blonde assailant got agitated. "Why the fuck are ya here? Just 'cuz your daddy's the Kazekage?" And there it was again. The Kazekage-talk. Gaara didn't know why everyone always had to drag HIM into all of it.

He could feel his attacker was burning with insatiable anger and the best part of it, he didn't even know why the blonde was so furious at him. All of a sudden, the annoyance went quiet. Gaara slowly looked up, his hair slightly obscuring his view, but he still managed to detect the resentment in his cold eyes. Casually, the blonde bent down and whispered "Don't think you can play this act any longer. We both know what your father did and who knows where he fished _you_ out… You seem to like Haruno a lot too. We wouldn't want her to be in trouble now, do we?"

Nobody could tell how it happened. One moment the blonde troublemaker was shouting at the red-haired imbecile. The next moment said-blonde was lying on the wooden floor, laughing madly, while the redhead was hunched over him, growling threateningly with ferocious wild eyes, hidden beneath his long hair. His paws were digging into trembling shoulders, deep enough to draw blood but that wasn't enough for him. Gaara saw red. And he wanted more of it. He needed to hurt him. He needed to!

Someone was pulling him from behind, but he wasn't aware of it. Another one came to drag him away from the bastard in front of him, yet he still didn't move an inch. Gaara could still hear his laughing voice. And it drove him insane. Saliva was dripping on the floor. Finally, a third person came to restrict him. But he could still hear it. This shrill voice. His vision was blocked, still he tried to lunge forward. Stop this noise! Stop it! STOP IT!

All of a sudden, his head was yanked harshly to the right. He fought to redirect his face, but those hands kept him strongly there. Briefly, he caught pink hair. And then large green eyes. His breathing hitched, his muscles relaxed, his whole body slumped forward, his eyes focused again. Intently watching her. Only her.

She was there. She was fine. She was alive.

The shrill voice disappeared to the background, and instead, he heard her crying his name. And he too was alive again.

* * *

Exhaling deeply, Hinata withdrew her shaking hands. Plumping down, she took a shaky breath in, halted for a second and exhaled once more. _It ended. Finally._

Placing one trembling hand over her heart to calm down her heartbeat, she gave a small smile towards her cousin, and one to her boyfriend. Both looking worriedly at her. Luckily, Neji and Hinata came to the fight scene just in time. While Neji was attempting to restrict Gaara, Hinata tried to divert his attention. She knew it was dangerous and stupid, but she was full of adrenaline and she just wanted to block his view on the screaming student, so she placed herself in-between them. Somewhere far away, she heard her cousin shouting her name, shouting for her to go away, but she didn't listen to him.

Intently focused on the mad boy in front of her, she watched carefully for any sign of offensive movements towards the injured boy behind her. Her cousin wouldn't have been able to keep him there any longer, but thankfully, Lee and Naruto were next to him in a second. Gaara's eyes weren't focused at all, he looked like a wild beast rampaging for an unseen target and Hinata was at a loss.

Suddenly, Hinata caught sight of Sakura, who just entered the school with Kiba in tow. But, to Hinata's dismay, for whatever reason, aside from those gaping spectators standing near the scene, Sasuke and Kiba were deliberately blocking Sakura's way. Even though she was desperately shouting Gaara's name, clawing her way to the frantic boy, they were fighting her, keeping her away from him. The hall was too loud with all those students – not to mention the howling student laying on the ground – for Sakura to be heard by Gaara.

Thus, on the spur of the moment, she grabbed his face with both hands and turned it towards Sakura. Gaara-san really was strong, he fought back just as stubbornly, but she didn't waver one bit. He wouldn't stop trembling. He wouldn't stop his assault. Not if he's this unfocused and out of his mind. He needed to calm down. And Sakura always had that effect on him. As if to prove her right, he stilled immediately. And just like that, it ended.

"It's okay now, Gaara-san. It's over now." Sakura was patting his head soothingly, while he was trembling and murmuring something inaudible, clutching desperately to her blazer like it was his life line. "That was pretty scary, huh?" From above his head, she gave Kiba and Sasuke a furious look, piercing them unwaveringly. They were so going to get it afterwards.

_They are like mother and son. In a cute way. _As if he heard Hinata's thoughts, Gaara suddenly turned his head and looked straight at her. Hinata's eyes made contact with his and unsure how to react – it was the first time he let her see his eyes intentionally – she gave him a small smile. In the next blink, his head was laying on Sakura's shoulder once more. Almost like it never happened.

* * *

"… Sakura-kun…"

"Yes. Gaara-san. I'm here. Everything is fine now."

Gaara was still clinging to her, muttering her name non-stop. She didn't want to force him to distance himself, although he was literally clinging to her chest. It terrified her a bit, she had to admit. What did the idiot Bakugo do to make him quiver like that? She hadn't ever seen him this scared before. Still, it was somewhat embarrassing to be seen like this in front of the whole school. But that wasn't what she was worried about now.

Shortly after the incident, Sarutobi-sama and Shishou appeared out of nowhere. Naturally, the latter was livid at the display and threatened with detention for everyone who gawked impudently. Bakugo was brought to the infirmary and Shishou ordered her to stay with Gaara in the headmaster's office, she would come and get them once she was finished with the injured student. _"There is something I need to discuss with the both of you"_, she murmured absentmindedly.

Thinking about what she could say to the still distraught boy, she suddenly blurted out. "Bakugo-san lost his mother two years ago. She was working in Suna back then. After a while, the letters stopped coming and when he asked the authorities, they declared her as dead. Apparently, her body was never found, but yeah… His parents got divorced years before that, so his dad wasn't any help at all. That's why he hates Suna-citizens. You know? Her death was in Wind country, so the jurisdiction fell onto Suna. And you're the Kazekage's son… He's not seeing reason at all."

Sighing loudly, she continued. "I'm not defending him, and it definitely does not justify his actions, I just want you to understand a bit why he acted like that." Feeling his rustling, she watched, as he slowly sat up. His green eyes were so scared and confused and his face was contorted with sadness. It just hurt Sakura to see him like that.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" She asked in a whisper. Still clutching onto her blazer, he pulled on it lightly, signalizing her to come closer. Wordlessly, she narrowed the small gap between them. Which was harder said than done, with him huddled up and her sitting half-seiza style. Sakura leaned forward, her head leaning towards his. He closed his eyes and Sakura was surprised by his red eyelashes. From the black circles around his eyes, she never knew he had red eyelashes.

Watching him intently, she quickly closed her eyes, less she started having strange thoughts. She felt how their foreheads were touching, leaning lightly against each other. His breathing was even, and she could hear her own heartbeat resounding through her ears.

"He… He threatened to hurt you." Surprised, Sakura opened her eyes, only to close them again. She really didn't expect this answer. Or a reply in general. It was so peaceful, she fell into a trance-like state almost immediately and totally forgot she was waiting for an answer.

"Thank you. But don't worry about me. I'm stronger than you think. I won't let someone like him hurt me so easily." She smiled and he seemed content with her answer. But when he suddenly spoke again, it took her by surprise. Not because of him initiating a conversation, no. But the content of it shocked her.

"Does it make you a murderer when your parent murdered someone?"

He was looking at her with sorrowful big eyes. Focused solely on her, waiting patiently for her wise words. His eyes held so much hope and faith, so much trust and vulnerability, that she didn't dare to look away, in case he'd get discouraged by her. And she absolutely refused to let him down. To let him close her off as well, to see him suffering on his own. No. Absolutely not.

Thus, she stared just as intently into his eyes. Not wavering for a second, even though deep down, she was scared to say the wrong things to him. "Gaara-san. Your parents' action do not reflect your own action. You are you. Your dad is your dad. Never forget that. No matter what other people say, you are not a murderer. Did Bakugo say that?"

_I'll kill whoever said that to him._

He shook his head and looked away, as if he was ashamed. Of what, Sakura didn't know. So she took his chin and faced his head her way, once again, deeply looking into his eyes. Searching for any sign. But there was nothing. "Don't be ashamed of who you are, Gaara-san. I know you. You didn't murder anyone. So don't doubt yourself."

Unexpectedly, Gaara felt how his heart was suddenly beating faster. It wasn't the first time it happened, but Sakura was always around when it did occur. He took her hand, which was still on his face, and placed it over his bare chest, right over his heart. Surprised, Sakura didn't know how to react to his commotion. But then she flushed lightly. For someone this skinny, he was still well-built. Feeling his heartbeat on her palm was embarrassing. However, when she saw his bright smile, she rewarded him with one of her own. They looked like two fools smiling at each other over a heartbeat. And even though her hand was cold, the place, where her hand was touching him turned warm and Gaara really liked how his whole body seemed to increase in temperature.

"Gaara-san… I think it would be better for you to befriend someone else beside me. I'm sure you'd like that as well, don't you?" Sakura broke the silence. Thinking back, although she introduced him to the class, things didn't look any better for him, sadly. Her friends tried to include him in their activities, but it wasn't quite as easy as they thought. He was nervous around everyone else and whenever Sasuke was around, it only got worse.

He stayed quite for such a long time, Sakura assumed he hadn't heard her, but that was almost impossible, with the office being this quiet. _Maybe it's still too early for him._ Just when she was about to take back her words, he responded. "Hinata… She was nice to me."

Sakura clapped her hands joyfully and gave him a cheerful smile. "Yes, she's one of the most selfless and generous people I know, if not the most. You have a great friend-sensor, you!" She smacked him him playfully on his upper arm. Not expecting the strength of it, he jumped back a bit and rubbed the aching spot. Still, Sakura praised him and that alone made him smile happily.

"She touched me on her own." Seeing his honest smile, Sakura felt her heart ache a little for him. She already knew that he was deprived of human contact, but not to this extent. _Just how was his life in Suna? And in the wild?_

"I wanted to thank her. But I don't think she understood me earlier. It always works on you." Perplexed, Sakura's eyes widened. She didn't know when he was trying to thank Hinata. Wasn't she with him the whole time earlier? Still, this just made her more determined to help him befriend her.

"You know, if you want to thank her, you should give her a present and then tell her directly how you feel. Like 'I would like to be your friend!', or something like that. Otherwise she wouldn't be able to understand you. As for the present, maybe something that she likes or needs. Self-made presents are appreciated the most, I would say, but…" While Sakura was rambling on and on about her opinion on presents, she didn't know that she had already lost Gaara during the first part of it.

However, he didn't intent to interrupt her talk. He would never dare to. He was absolutely content with hearing her voice debating on whatever it was she was talking about. Watching her attentively, he was captivated by her whole being. Never had he seen someone this beautiful. From her soft pink hair and bright green eyes to her graceful and determined movements to her stubborn and caring personality, she was the epitome of beauty. Whenever he got a glimpse of her, he was reminded of his beloved home in the forest and despite all the bad experience he had with humans so far, as long as she was there, he would not lose the sight of the beauty in them. After a long search for a new home, he finally found the right one.

A knock disturbed their respective activities and after waiting for a few seconds, the door swiped open and in came Tsunade. "Just wanted to make sure to give you enough time to separate." She smirked playfully at Sakura, who tried to ignore the comment but blushed, nevertheless. Meanwhile, Gaara decided he liked the sight of her turning rose and vowed to himself to make her blush more often too.

"How is Bakugo?" Sakura asked, redirecting the conversation. Swiftly closing the door, Tsunade strode purposefully into the room, her heels clacking on the wooden floor.

"He's fine. The wound on his shoulder wasn't that fancy. The problem lies here." Tsunade tapped her temple twice. "His therapist did say his outbursts are still heavy. But he knows it was his own fault, so luckily for you and for us Gaara, he isn't going to report it. But do me a favor and try to avoid him."

Tsunade half-sat, half-leaned on the office desk and unfolded the documents on Gaara. "I've read your report, Sakura. Great job overall, some small mistakes we need to review, but otherwise a good report. Though, care to elaborate; '_Shows signs of being a victim of abusive treatment'?"_

Sakura straightened up, sat in seiza position and switched into learning-mode. "He is easily surprised by loud noises and cringes away from it. Fast movements agitate him, he cowers and displays a defensive posture. He growls when he thinks he's threatened but doesn't outright attack the source. Somehow, he reminds me of a caged wild animal. And then there is also the fact, that he avoids all human contact. Well. Except me I guess."

Feeling left out, Gaara scurried over to her and nudges her lightly with his shoulder. Without halting her speech, she lifted her arm, so that he could lay his head on her thighs and patted his head, almost like it was on reflex. He gave a content purr and seemed to doze off. And because Sakura knew he felt easily ignored by his surroundings – and to avoid a repetition of last time –, they agreed upon this conclusion. Stunned silent, Tsunade tried hard to overlook the scene before her and instead let her apprentice finish her explanation first.

"Even though he craves for love, he still avoids humans… To be honest, I've been thinking about it for some time. There is a possibility, that, because he was deprived of love, he clung to the first person who deliberately approached him and let him near. Though I think he was abused by this same person and as a result he avoids humans. Still, that doesn't explain his behavior around me, so I didn't include this part in the report."

Looking deeply into her shishou's eyes, Sakura waited patiently for her reply, unconsciously playing with Gaara's hair. _A couple of years more and you won't need me anymore, Sakura._ Instead of a proper response though, Tsunade decided to let her solve it on her own. There wasn't anything for her to add anyway, she didn't know the right answers to her unasked questions. In fact, on reading Sakura's report, her apprentice was able to get more information out of Gaara in a single week than herself in a month. "Next time, I want you to include your thought processes."

Still observing them closely, her shishou decided to approach another urgent topic. "There's something I'd like you guys to try. I call it the couple-therapy." Tsunade didn't want to dwell on her strange habit to tease Sakura, especially with a certain redhead, and having fun doing so. But her apprentice was so easy to tease.

"It should help in calming people down and comforting them. At first, I thought it would be impossible for Gaara to find a suitable partner for this therapy, but it seems like you two are pretty close. You'll be able to do it. Of course, only if you want to."

Almost instantly, Gaara was wide awake and ready for everything and anything. If he could do something with Sakura, he would gladly do it. Sakura too, hearing that it was to comfort and to calm down Gaara, didn't waste another second. This therapy would definitely come in handy, what with Gaara's tendency to attract trouble. "We'd like to try it, Shishou."

Nodding approvingly, Tsunade resumed. "It's different for every couple, but basically, you'll just touch each other." This earned her another bright blush from Sakura. Unfazed, her shishou continued. "You should feel comfortable doing it though. Even in public, for Gaara's sake. For some people that means embracing intimately, for others it means kissing. There was also a couple, where it was enough for them to just look into each other's eyes and hold their hands. What works best for you."

Tsunade stood up and walked towards the door. "I'll give you some privacy, I still have to see how Bakugo-kun's doing. You've already been dismissed for the first period, so stay here until the school bell chimes and take all the time you want." With a last smirk her shishou left them.

There was a pregnant pause after her exit, but Sakura didn't need to fill it with unnecessary talk. Gaara was pulling on her blazer again, while his head draw nearer, and she mimicked him. Their forehead touched again, and she closed her eyes once more. He seemed to really like this game. She could feel his breath getting closer, and in response, her heartbeat was beating erratically. Just when it came too close for Sakura's liking, he stopped his advance. Their noses were touching lightly and just imagining how close they were, Sakura couldn't help but glow fiercely. She squeezed her eyes shut, anticipating his next action, but then she heard him snort.

Astonished, she opened her eyes and saw him laughing. He tricked her! And yet, she couldn't take her eyes off him. This was one of his rare laughter and she relished in it. Speechless, she tried to ingrate this sight into her memory. Sakura wished he would cut his hair though. It was so impractical, and it hid his handsome features. Such a shame. Gaara on the other hand, felt more accomplished than ever. He managed to make her turn red on his own! But then she made this funny face and from his view – with their foreheads leaned against each other – it looked so comical, there was no way he could contain his laughter. And so he didn't.

* * *

Author's note  
I do not own Naruto. This is purely for entertainment purposes.  
It's a shame I can't directly message Guest reviewers, but know I love all your reviews! They motivate me to write two days straight (and a new chap was born).  
And all the favorites and follows are deeply appreciated too.  
If you are still reading this story, thanks to you as well.


	5. About hope and despair

**Chapter 5 – About hope and despair**

An old man in an expensive kimono, bandaged from head to toe, was standing on his back yard. His cane was loosely leaning against the wooden pillar and his back was facing his youngest kid. Waving leisurely with his hand, a servant moved forward and placed a file on the perfectly tamed grass, right in front of the seiza-sitting youngling. "Sai. This is your new assignment."

The blank boy didn't move an inch, just waited for his permission to leave. Slowly, a bandaged hand touched one of the rare flowers, which dared grow into his garden. The senile man took the blood-stained plant into his hand and raised it. Inspecting the lonely flower one last time, he let it fall helplessly to the ground. "Don't disappoint me."

On touching the ground, the innocent flower was crushed brutally. Lifting his foot, another servant shuffled over and replaced the dirtied geta with a clean one. "And don't forget what he did to us. Leave."

"Yes, Danzo-sama." Picking up the file, the pale boy stood up his eyes never leaving the ground. He bowed one last time and disappeared. Leaving behind a half-beaten faceless gardener, a few minutely trembling unknown servants and his grandfather.

* * *

Hinata was a really gentle person. That much Gaara already knew. Whilst following her from faraway, so as not to let her – and more importantly her attentive companion – notice him, he was surprised to see how many people greeted her. After school, he decided to tail after the sweet girl to get to know what she liked or needed. She seemed to like walking and detouring through the village, alongside this other guy, who looked just like her. Maybe they were twins?

A lot of humans seemed to know them, some even going so far as to bowing to them. Gaara knew, that this was a mean to show respect, just like how he used to do it back home. But nowadays, he didn't bow to anyone anymore. He didn't know how to differ from whom he should show respect and whom not to, and nobody seemed to mind it, so he didn't care. Still, whenever Sakura bowed to someone, like the masked man with those sleepy eyes, or the noisy blonde with those loud clacking shoes, he imitated her. That was his yardstick for the moment and it worked just fine.

Gaara's task that afternoon was pretty easy; find out what she liked and befriend her! But the longer he shadowed over them, the more it seemed impossible to find a suitable gift for her. They went into different buildings but always came out empty-handed. Occasionally, they stopped in the middle of the street, and the guy would tilt his head a bit to the side. Then he would say something to Hinata, and they continued their way.

Just when Gaara decided to go back to school – the timid human, whom he shared a home with, must have been waiting for him for a long time already –, they came out of another one of those buildings, with flowers in their hands. To be on the safe side, he waited until they were lost in the crowd and then he sneaked into the small housing. On entering the flower house, a bell jingled over his head. Instinctively, he jumped away from the gong and ducked even lower.

"Welcome! How can I- Oh, hi Gaara!" From behind the counter, a human with long blonde hair approached him. It was one of Sakura's friends, if he didn't mix it up. There were so many similar humans out there. Crazy. There was even one who looked like him. One of those 'Senpais' as Sakura called them. Just nobody who looked like Sakura. She was unique. Yes, indeed she was.

"What a surprise to see you here!" Gaara didn't particularly like her. She was too noisy, and she smelled too strong of those artificial stuff. Some human seems to like those smell, covering their own body odor with it. But Sakura told him explicitly not to mention it, especially not in front of women. So he didn't.

"Can I help you? Are you looking for something specific?" Still, she was one of the first who approached him fearlessly and brightly, so the redhead didn't dislike her either. Somehow Gaara figured that blonde people tend to be loud and noisy, and there were a couple of those around Sakura. He should get used to them sooner or later. Preferably later.

"Flowers." He decided to answer her. There was an awkward silence on Ino's part, which Gaara interpreted differently, and so, feeling helpful, he added. "For humans."

Meanwhile, Ino was uncertain as to how she should be reacting to that. When Sakura introduced him to them, she was shocked speechless. It was that 'Akio'-guy Sakura told her about years ago! Back then, she thought Sakura made up a friend just like herself. She still remembered having told her once about her Prince Charming – who obviously only lived in her mind – and thought, that Sakura did the same, so as not to lose to her best friend. Seemed like that wasn't the case though.

Ino would never understand how her best friend could manage to have a decent conversation with such a reserved guy, but then again, Sakura did date the so-called monosyllable-guy before. Well, she supposed having a quiet man beside her talkative friend wasn't a bad combination. Maybe her soulmate was the silent type too? Thinking about it, she didn't dislike having a guy around who'd listen to her for once.

She straightened up and gave him her salesperson-smile. "Well, aren't you lucky! In that case, you're standing in the right shop! Shall I help you in picking one out? For a specific person?" She winked, turned around and lead him towards the back corner of the shop.

"What comes to your mind when you think of her?" Seeing as he stayed silent, she clarified. "Just tell me some nouns, that pop out when you think of her. I can help you decide on the right flowers, depending on your feelings or the occasion for it."

Still, Gaara was standing motionless like a statue and Ino wasn't even sure, if he was breathing. There was nothing indicating that he wasn't actually sleeping whilst standing upright. Thus, she waved uncertainly in front of his supposed face. He desperately needed a haircut. That got a reaction out of him, it was only a small nod, but she counted that as a reaction. "Such as gratitude, beauty, joy, hope, innocence… Anything?"

"She is kind."

_Great. Just great. You better thank me for that later, Forehead!_

Taking a deep breath in and exhaling it slowly, Ino turned towards her beloved babies. "Okay. So, Gardenia express joy and purity. They tell the receiver '_You are a lovely person'_."Elegantly, like the experienced seller she was, Ino showed him the white flower, which reminded Gaara of a snowball.

"Then we have Tsubaki. They mean perfection and admiration, whereas the receiver would be the '_Flame of your heart'_. Isn't that cute?" Totally in her element, she presented him the rose-pink flower. To Gaara, they looked similar to lotus flowers, except their petals were rounder. Lotuses tasted delicious, especially the root of them.

"And these are Kikyo. They convey honesty and endless love. The receiver would get the meaning of _'a friend's return is desired'_. Somehow it has a sad meaning, right? But there's also something nostalgic and beautifully mysterious to it, don't you think so too?" Displaying the violet-blue flower with five petals, Gaara recalled he had seen children drawing star-like symbols on the playing ground before. Obviously, he had never seen stars up close, so he wasn't sure why humans claimed stars to have five spikes. Nevertheless, they did seem mysterious to him.

"So, any ideas yet?"

"The snowballs."

Ino had no idea why he called them snowballs, but she kept her mouth shut. There were other matters keeping her excited. _Good thing I didn't tell him they are often used on weddings. Seriously Forehead, why are we friends again?_ Taking the Gardenias, she wrapped them up and sent him off with an honest bright smile.

* * *

Morning couldn't come any sooner for Ino. She couldn't wait to see Sakura's face when Gaara would be giving her the flowers! Or so she thought. But Gaara wasn't presenting the beautiful flowers to Sakura. No, he was presenting them to Hinata, of all people. Right next to Naruto. In front of the whole class. This couldn't get any worse.

"Thank you." He said. _Nonono Gaara! She already has Naruto! He couldn't have known Gardenias also meant 'Secret Love', could he? This is just a coincidence! AND WHAT ABOUT FOREHEAD?_

"I like you." Ino wished the ground would open up and swallow her up, right then and there. It was too painful for her to watch, after everything she had pictured out, that wasn't one of the scenarios. She didn't know if she should pity Hinata, who was blushing violently, almost on the verge of fainting. Or Naruto, who was trying miserably to do something useful, whether it was stopping Gaara or taking Hinata somewhere far away or do something else entirely. Or rather Gaara, who was conveying his feelings to the not-so-wrong (?) person, but definitely at a wrong time. _Or did he really want to convey his love to Hinata?_

But then he added, "I would like you to be my friend", and everyone was frozen stiff. "Ha?" Ino would never admit that she let out such an unlady-like noise. That was definitely not her. Nuh-uh.

Right on time, the infamous Gaara-translator walked into the room. "Morning everyone. Did something happen?" Sakura had never heard the classroom being this silent in the morning. This was a first and seeing as how everyone was too shocked to greet her back, she figured something did happen.

"I did as you told me, but it didn't work, Sakura-kun." Gaara was getting more restless with every silent second that met him. Did he do something wrong again? He didn't want to keep holding the glass with the flowers in it. The glass was unpleasantly sweaty from him holding it since morning and he would much rather be greeting Sakura and get his morning pat, like all the mornings.

He didn't know befriending humans was this challenging. It used to be so easy back home. A smell on the booty and it was all good. But instead of his morning greeting, he was met by her laughter. "This is too cute. You did great, Gaara-kun." Shortly thereafter, he did receive his morning pat. Once more, he presented Hinata his gift and she took it hesitantly, along with the glass.

"Hinata, what Gaara-kun wanted to say is 'Thank You' for what you did yesterday. And this is a present for you. He would like to be your friend." Smiling brightly, Sakura nodded at Hinata, encouraging her to say something.

"Uh… Sure, I'd like to be your friend too, G-Gaara-san." On seeing her shy smile, the redhead was sure he chose the right flower for her. It suited her just fine in his opinion. "And thank you for the flowers. They are lovely."

In the blink of an eye, Gaara was inches in front of Hinata, invading her personal space and leaned towards her face. Said-girl blushed violently and made an abrupt step back, leaning right into Naruto's chest. With no way out of her predicament she passed out instantly. Meanwhile, Naruto was screaming loudly. He caught the black-haired beauty easily in his arms, while trying to get this bastard away from her face. That didn't deter the redhead one bit, and instead he sniffed near Hinata's face and did the same on her neck.

Naruto yanked Hinata away from this sick pervert and stood in-between them. Preventing the redhead another chance to sniff on his girlfriend. But Gaara was already finished with his task. By the time Naruto took to reposition the limp body in his arms, Gaara was happily cuddling Sakura, who was calmly watching the whole scene, seemingly unfazed by Gaara's action. "Calm down, Naruto. He was only taking in her scent. Marking her as a friend."

"MARKING HER?" This made Gaara flinch and Sakura proceeded to ignore Naruto. The blonde didn't pester them anymore, seeing as Hinata regained consciousness again. Instead, Sakura looked proudly at Gaara, who had managed to befriend someone new.

"Gardenias display joy and innocence, as well as purity. It matches perfectly to Hinata's character. Who helped you in picking it out?" Sakura was positively stunned and subsequently looked at the direction he pointed, only to see her best friend Ino. Smirking knowingly, she remarked. "Ino-pig, seems like you were thinking about something differently. Huh? A secret love? A wedding?"

Said-best friend blushed and retorted. "How should I know it wasn't meant for you!"

* * *

"Itachi-nii!" Sakura screamed joyfully. Coming to a stop in front of him, she bowed politely towards his companion. "Good morning, Kisame-senpai."

Itachi smiled fondly at Sakura and ruffled her hair. This earned him a half-annoyed sigh from her and a punch from Kisame, who scoffed. "Why do I get such an awful civil _'Good morning, Kisame-senpai'_, while this arrogant bastard gets a cute _'Itachi-nii!'_?"

Smiling courteously at him, just to ignore him afterwards, Sakura turned to her real target. "So, how is Gaara-san doing right now?" Looking back at said-boy, Sakura saw him watching her closely. Waving her hand, she wanted him to pay attention to what Hinata was trying to tell him. The black-haired beauty was attempting to return his glass, which he stubbornly refused to accept and shoved it back into her hands. Turning back around, she noticed Kisame was already engulfed in an argument with Deidara-senpai. However, Itachi gave her a questioning look. "Doing what?"

"You know. Sasuke and your new 'secret' mission? Shadowing Gaara-san? Ring any bell?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Sakura." Itachi decided to play safe. No matter how much he trusted Sakura, Sasuke would never tell her about their task, would he? That would mean going against their father, and Sasuke would never dare do that. Well, maybe if it involved Sakura. But it didn't.

"Oh, don't you dare play dumb with me. Sasuke's been giving me those weird looks for a while now. You know, the one with his wiggling right eyebrow. And you've been coming here pretty often, lately." Counting facts off her fingers, she wasn't even aware of the eye contact Itachi had with his favorite brother. Catching Itachi's look and his glance towards the woman next to him, Sasuke shook his head minutely. _'He could as well be a murderer for all we know'_, his father's voice rang clearly in his mind.

"And Sasuke doesn't even send you away! You! Whom he complains about every single time he sees you! You stick to him like a limpet! No wonder he feels creeped out by you."

Sakura looked him straight in the eyes and continued. "So, got anything you want to say? And you better answer carefully." Jabbing him on his chest, she huffed somewhat pissed.

"Go and ask him yourself."

"Think I haven't yet? You know he can't lie to me. So he stays silent and looks everywhere but in my direction. And we both know what that means." Pausing dramatically, Sakura lowered her eyes and whispered dolefully. "Family business."

Itachi sighed diminutively, but Sakura caught it, nonetheless. That was no doubt his silly little brother. Sakura was really persistent. She didn't budge one bit and just kept giving him her most cold and pissed look she could muster. In return, Itachi stared unabashed into her eyes. That didn't faze him at all. Neither willing to yield, they stayed silent for a few long moments, just staring into each other's eyes. Willing the other one to give in first.

"Sakura-chan! Tell Gaara to- What are you guys doing?" Naruto was pulling at her sleeve but realized, they were having a silent argument. He hated those arguments, especially between those two. If they wanted to, they could keep it up for hours. But usually, Sakura won. She was way too stubborn.

At that moment, Itachi snorted amused. It sounded more like a deep exhale, but Sakura knew him too well. She had won this round, again. Itachi for his part found it too cute. For little Sakura to look so serious was almost as comical as feeling Sasuke's glare directed at him. Still feeling Naruto's hand on her sleeve, she told him to give them another minute and to _'Tell Gaara-san on your own!'_.

"He's doing fine. Aside from those random fights he gets into, nothing out of the norm."

"Itachi. You know this is like telling me I have pink hair, right?"

Smiling lightly, he decided to comply to her wish. He could still feel Sasuke's stare and he had to admit, he rarely got this much attention from his cute7 brother. Thus, he was enjoying every moment he got. "He's been behaving well enough. No threat to others and we've been trying to lessen his attackers. Which gives us a lot of work."

Visibly satisfied with this, she nodded. _So, the incident with Bakugo wasn't noted._

"Sasuke told me you've been keeping an eye on Gaara-kun too. Another assignment Tsunade-sama gave you?"

"Yeah. Just wanted to make sure we're on the same page. Him being illiterate and still getting the same classes like us was bound to create some tension. As well as the incident in Suna…" Once again, Sakura turned her focus on Gaara. "Still, he's needed here, where he can get the best treatment. Shishou told me they've kept him away from the civilization back in Suna. No wonder he turned out like this."

_So they haven't told her about the 'real' reason he's here._ That suited him just fine. Otherwise, she would be even more worked up about it. Itachi was carefully watching her expression. Her eyes had always revealed her inner emotions to him. And they still were. There was a mix of sadness and melancholy in them, as well as hope and faith, with a hint of pity. And, surprisingly to Itachi, also regret.

Gaara noticed her eyes on him and looked up. He smiled briefly and resumed this glass-giving game with Hinata. Within a second, Sakura's eyes lit up and she smiled tranquilly. "Still, he's fighting with everything he's got. Leaving his home was sure as hell not easy. But despite all the open hostility, he's trying to understand this complicated world, to love it with all its flaws and to find his own place, here with us… Sometimes I find myself asking what would have happened if-"

"Sakura." Itachi was blocking her view on Gaara. Extending his arm towards her face, he took his sleeve and dabbed her tears away. Her eyes widened in surprise. She hadn't noticed she was crying at all. But she couldn't stop the tears from coming out anymore. Itachi heard how Sasuke was shifting from his position on the other side, no doubt about to run towards them. Luckily, it seemed like Gaara hadn't noticed anything yet. Signaling for Kisame to stall Sasuke, Itachi took her out of the room.

A sob threatened to break out, but it came out muffled. Itachi was embracing her, her head pressed against his chest, one hand patting her soothingly, while the other rested lightly on her back. In response, her own hands were grasping his jacket. Vaguely, she felt herself being transported away from the noise inside the classroom and the door slid shut.

They stayed like that for a while. Her sobbing quietly into his jacket and him soothing her gently. "Sakura. You don't seem to realize that you're his hope. He's trying so hard because he knows you're there to support him fully. Without judgement, without mock. Just you and your honesty. And that's all he needs."

Itachi was never much of a talker and he guessed that was about his limit. But his talk only seemed to make her cry even harder and so unsure of his next action, he waited until she calmed down.

"You know you can come talk to me anytime, right? I might be on Sasuke's side, but that doesn't mean I don't care about you, you know?" He felt her nod against his chest and sighed. Talking sure wasn't his forte. But this girl always managed to make Uchihas do unusual things.

Her giggle startled him. "This is about the first time I've ever heard you talk this much in a conversation." Looking up at him, she gave him a sheepish smile. "You sure know how to woo a woman, Itachi-nii. I feel honored."

Returning her small smile, he loosened his hold on her and she shifted away to a more respectful and appropriate distance. The hall wasn't filled with students, but they still shouldn't give them any opportunities to arouse any more of those stupid rumors.

"I wasn't sure if Gaara-kun wasn't going to attack anyone, for example me, and cause chaos, so I was so nice and took you out. We don't want him to see your ugly crying face so early, right?"

She smacked him on his shoulder and yet, in contrast to her action, her face lit up with a bright smile. _It's already too late for that. But still… _"Thank you, Itachi-nii."

* * *

_\- - - - - Yesterday morning in the headmaster's office - - - - -_

"Gaara-san. I wanted to ask you for a while now… How is the wolf doing? You know, the one I saw back then? He raised you, right?" She didn't want to pry if he didn't want to talk about it, but it wouldn't help him either, if he just dragged it along with him wherever he went. And with how he behaved around other people, she was certain he hadn't talked about it with anyone before. She couldn't even imagine his burden.

"You don't have to answer me. I just want you to know, you can talk to me whenever you want." She added belatedly. He still wasn't looking at her and so she grabbed his hands. "I'll always be here. You know that, right?"

"I called her 'Mother'." He whispered and lifted his head. Despite how emotionless and blank his eyes appeared, she could see how deep his sorrow was. Sakura's vision blurred, her mouth dried suddenly and she had a lump in her throat. _Called. The past tense. _She had already suspected, that the wolf – his mother – wasn't alive anymore. Wild wolves lived around 10 years, some longer, others not. It had already been 10 years since then, and the wolf back then was definitely not a young wolf. The chances were rather slim, but still she hoped.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Was all she managed to squeeze out of her quivering mouth. She wanted to tell him '_I know how you must feel'_, but between her endless sobs and her inability to feel anything besides this heart wrenching grief she couldn't force it pass her mouth.

The room fell in a total silence, almost as if it was grieving with them, but outside of the room, nothing betrayed the misery they felt. And during her whole weeping, Gaara was there, holding her close to him, comforting her with his small body, silently crying with her.

* * *

Author's note  
I do not own Naruto. This is purely for entertainment purposes.  
I love flower meanings, but I'm not an expert. So don't blame me if it's wrong.  
Thanks for all the kind reviews, favorite and follows.  
And thank you for reading.


	6. Friends and love

**Chapter 6 – Friends and love**

Naruto never thought he was the jealous type. As if it wasn't enough, that Hinata was from a strict clan – who clearly prohibited her dating _anyone_ until they found her an appropriate 'husband'– and thus leading to them dating half-secretly behind their backs, Gaara suddenly popped up and gifted her all those awesome – not awesome at all – flowers!

His time with her were limited to school stuff and if it wasn't for Neji's help, Naruto was sure they would have paired her off with someone else already. He had a suspicion that they were thinking of one from the Uchiha-clan. _Not Sasuke, please not him._ _And not anyone else too!_ Even though the fact that he was the Hokage's son might have played a crucial factor as well, he didn't want to give it too much importance.

But since both of his parents weren't from a large clan – influential yes, but not big – he was definitely not in the 'husband-to-be' list of the Hyuugas. And so, because she was so delighted in getting those stupid flowers, he figured he could get her something too. Secretly, of course.

"Gaara-kun! Get us these too, we'd really like to have those! We're friends, right?"

Halting in his step, he turned around. _It couldn't be…_ And yet, it was. In the small supermarket just next to him, Naruto could see a group of students roaming around the shelves. Each of them hugging various packs of snacks and drinks. And surely, there he was. Gaara looked innocently at the next food they wanted to have. Another package of chips. The redhead didn't know why they liked to eat those stuff that much. They tasted like paper to him. But still, he tried to fit them into his pile of other foods.

Naruto wasn't sure whether or not to intervene and decided to observe them first. Gaara seemed to be hanging out with underclassmen. Since the blond was pretty sure he hadn't seen them in any of the other classes from the second year and they were clearly not upperclassmen. Strolling towards the counter, the group laid their stuff on top of it and waited for Gaara to follow them. Sure enough, Gaara came, observed them and placed his goods on the counter, next to theirs. One after the other, they grabbed their snacks on the other end of the counter and Gaara imitated them. The cashier told them visibly bored _"9760 yen, please."_

"Ah! Damn it!" One of them yelled. He was seemingly searching for something in his pocket but came out empty-handed. "I forgot my wallet!" Unconsciously, he glanced towards Gaara.

"Shoot! I didn't bring mine along too!" Another one screamed. Turning towards the clueless boy, he pleaded, obviously not for the first time. "Gaara-kun, would you mind paying for that? Friends always help each other out, right? We'll pay you next time, promise!"

Gaara didn't mind that at all and proceeded to take this weird stuffed paper out of his pocket. His 'friends' smirked at each other and waited patiently for him to pay for them. Before he could hand over this bunch of paper to the clerk, a hand intercepted, pushing his outstretched arms back.

"Gaara. What are you doing here with them?" Staring at the students behind Gaara, they flinched away from his look. Naruto sure was pissed. And they really didn't want to mess with the Hokage's son. The idiotic redhead was easy to manipulate, as long as he was alone. Grabbing his wrist harshly, Naruto dragged a confused Gaara away from the shop, leaving his 'friends' behind with the goods.

"Stuff your money away!" Naruto barked furiously. Looking at his pile of wrinkled up paper, he did as he was told. This was another one of Sakura's friends, he didn't want them to hate him. Letting go of his wrist, the blond stomped away and Gaara followed him. "Why do you hang out with them? They're just using you, you know?"

Exhaling deeply, Naruto took his time to calm down. Being the Hokage's son, he had his own experience in getting used by this so-called 'friends'. That was ages ago, back when he was a little naïve kid. Until he got into a brawl with the mighty Uchiha about his fake friends and found out the truth. Still, it had hurt when he had confronted them about it.

"They said they are my friends." Stopping in his walk he turned towards the redhead._ Seriously? Just because of that?_

"Can't you see how they were only using you for your money?"

"Sakura-kun said I have a great friend-sensor."

Naruto slapped his forehead. _Sakura-chan… You should be careful with what you tell him. You're like his god or something. This is insane._ And Gaara was even smiling fondly while saying that. Naruto had to admit, he was baffled by his looks, when he showed up in class without his long messy hair. Obviously, he wasn't the only one.

A few days after Gaara's attempt on befriending Hinata, Sakura got the honorable permission to cut his hair. It was a bit uneven, but not bad. His classmates were shocked to see such a normal face after his whole behavior. Bright green eyes a total contrast to his marble-red hair. If he wasn't directly glaring at people, which meant, when Sakura was right next to him, he didn't even look half as scary as he used to. Even though the black circles did give him a bizarre look, he even managed to bewitch some of the female students. At the same time, Sakura started to call him 'Gaara-kun' instead of 'Gaara-san'. A small but subtle difference. Seemed like they made a deal.

"Well… I'm not sure about that." Naruto decided to say.

"They said I have a weird relationship with Sakura-kun. And they would tell me how to 'court' her properly."

Naruto choked and spluttered incoherently. _He wants to WHAT? _He didn't know Gaara was interested in Sakura-chan in that way. He knew Gaara favored Sakura-chan a lot and considering Sakura's behavior around Gaara, she seemed to like him too. Besides, he was also the first one getting to her, since… Well… Sasuke-Teme… But in that way? Naruto wasn't so sure. _Does Teme know that?_

"Tell you what. Just… Stay away from those rowdies and hang out with us instead! I'm sure we'll be able to help you just as much as those idiots." Naruto leaned back slightly, sky blue eyes watching the clouds. He resumed his walk, taking a more leisured pace than before. "You know. My old man is the Hokage, so I understand you a bit. At least I think I do. I guess the money doesn't belong to you, so don't go and waste it on people like them."

Gaara was intently listening to him, mimicking his posture, green eyes towards the wide blue sky. "But I have a different relationship to my dad than you have with yours. I could see it in his eyes, old man wanted to tell me – as the Hokage – to befriend you, because you're the Kazekage's son. But he didn't. He knows I'd want to befriend you, because I want to and because of who _you_ are. And not because of some political or diplomatic reasons."

Coming to a stop on a crossroad, Naruto turned his head towards Gaara. "That's why don't let yourself get used by others. We might be a chaotic bunch of people, but I promise you, you'll never find better friends anywhere." _I assure you that._

Scratching the back of his head in embarrassment, Naruto smiled a big goofy smile. Waving one last time, he vanished around the next corner, leaving a dumbfounded Gaara behind.

* * *

Naruto really didn't know how Gaara did it, but somehow, he managed to follow him without getting detected! And all that, even though Naruto made sure to separate himself from the redhead beforehand.

Hinata had told him, that on the day before she got the flowers, Neji and her went into Ino's shop to purchase some flowers, since it was the death anniversary of Neji's dad, Hizashi-sama. And Neji being Neji, felt they were being watched and thus, they made a big detour around the whole village, just to be sure it was really them, who were being shadowed. After a while, he couldn't feel their tracker's eyes on them anymore and they proceeded to get the flowers.

Keeping that in mind, Naruto even looked back a few times, but didn't detect anyone with suspicious red hair, before he finally ended up walking towards his destination. And even inside the shop, he turned around and looked out of the window. But there wasn't anyone. Passersby went on their way, nobody stopped even remotely near the shop and ultimately feeling paranoid, he stopped and relaxed.

But here the redhead was. Standing in front of him, blocking his way to their classroom. His hands were holding a suspicious looking square box, a perfect poker face plastered on his face. Somehow the box was imprinted with the same label as the present Naruto bought for Hinata the day before. In addition, said-girl was standing awkwardly next to him. And once again, no Sakura nearby. _Just why is Sakura-chan always late in the morning when Gaara decides not to wait for her for once?_

"Naruto-kun? I think he wants to give it to you." Even Hinata looked somewhat pleased, still she wasn't used to Naruto being this silent. Gaara took another step forward and shoved this 'present' right into his stomach.

"I would like you to be my friend", repeated Gaara almost robotically. Taking his present and forcing a smile on his lips – to Hinata, it looked like Naruto bit into a piece of lemon, while trying to sell it as a peach – he managed to squeeze out between thinned lips. "Why, thank you Gaara. I am _so_ happy. You didn't have to do that in front of other people, _my friend_."

Hinata looked at him and frowned. "You don't look very happy." But Gaara didn't seem to notice Naruto's strange behavior. He leaned forward and sniffed on his face a few times. Stunned silent, Naruto froze on the spot, just to shove Gaara away belatedly. The redhead jumped away and watched him, clearly confused.

"EW! Seriously, stop doing that! That's gross!" Naruto said, while wiping his face repeatedly with his sleeve. Giggling softly, Hinata laughed amused by Naruto's overdramatic antics.

Gaara wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. How else was he supposed to remember his friend's scent? Sakura already told him strictly, that the booty and the chest areas were a big no-no. It was already hard enough to smell the scent on the face and the neck area. He decided to just go and ask Sakura, and so, Gaara turned around and disappeared. He had already detected her scent a few seconds ago.

"So… Aren't you going to see what it contains?" Hinata asked. Naruto shook his head and sighed dejectedly.

"It doesn't matter anymore."

Hinata furrowed her brows again. Not knowing that Naruto adored her face every time she did that. "How can you say that? Poor Gaara-san. He was so happy to befriend you too."

Smiling genuinely, Naruto wrapped his arms around Hinata, ignoring the stares they got from the students around them. Hinata squeaked in surprise and went beet-red, while praying to Kami-sama that they somehow went undetected by all the students. He pressed her body closer to his and whispered happily into her ears. "I love you Hinata-chan! You know that, right?"

* * *

Gaara hadn't felt this happy and free for a long time. It has been almost two months, since he came to Konoha and went to class with Sakura and everyday was pretty much fun to him. He learned a lot of things from his new friends. Including the use of money, "_the more symbols on a paper, the more value it has"_ or food, "_transparent paper needs to be unwrapped first before eating"._

School was generally boring to him, but it was fun to see how everyone was so focused on the black board or their books and he would often copy their antics and scribble something into his own book. The first time he did that, Sakura had approached him. People were staring weirdly at him, even though he was doing everything they did. Well, as much as he could mimic them. He didn't know how to use this short stick properly, he had to admit.

Back in Suna – and once with the noisy blonde – they gave him a similar stick, next to a sheet of paper. The redhead chewed on it and the human, who was watching him intently, scribbled something down onto his board. Gaara observed the old man silently and then decided to imitate him. Thus, he took the stick in his hand. Grabbing the stick with his fist, he proceeded to doodle on the white paper. Back then, this earned him a praise from the old man. And he waited patiently for his reward, but he rarely did get one.

So, when Sakura was looking over his work, he was waiting for her praise. But all she did was stare at his art. Until his classmates dared to stretch their head out – as much as they dared to, without him growling at them – and then proceeded to laugh, while whispering something like _"He's illiterate!"_. At those words Sakura turned furious and yelled at them to stop making fun of him.

Among those murmurs, there were some more aggressive ones. He didn't know what 'illiterate' meant at that time, but he still gnarled at them for making Sakura mad. That didn't sit well with a few of those gloomier kids and if it weren't for Sasuke and Naruto, there would have been a nasty brawl. At the end, she was patting him, to calm him down, while he interpreted that as his reward.

After that, Sakura tried to teach him about those symbols, just like those humans back in Suna had, but after the third time – and a talk with that noisy blonde Sakura respected so much – she stopped. The wild boy really wasn't interested in those symbols, but he liked having her around. Naturally, his eyes were more often on her than on the paper in front of him. So yeah, school was fun too, at least with Sakura around.

During his previous task, he noticed how much his alone-time with Sakura had lessened. He enjoyed the time around his friends – real friends – but he still loved the time he spent with Sakura the most. Still, after his talk with his 'fakefriends' and Naruto's reaction to his revelation, he figured he had to change his relationship with Sakura. The growing boy didn't want be Sakura's 'kid' or her 'pet', he wanted to be her _mate_. Additionally, Naruto did say they would help him, as much as they could.

For these reasons, Gaara was currently sitting on a high tree, observing the blond and his black-haired mate. Both blissfully unaware of his presence and unwavering stare. And that was only natural, since he was 500 feet or so away from them, hidden behind leaves and thick branches. Not to mention the sports building was in-between them.

They were snuggling close to each other in a half-secluded area on the school ground. The redhead was too far away for him to catch what they were talking about, but it didn't matter. He just had to see how they interacted with each other.

Naruto was hovering over Hinata, her back against the wall of the school building. One of his hand gently enclosed her blushing face, his other forearm was supporting his weight against said-wall, preventing his body from crushing her. And her hands were lightly gripping his jacket, pulling him effectively to her.

They stayed like that for a few moments, faces inches apart, smiling softly, talking about whatever, until finally, their faces inched closer. Gaara was once again focused solely on the pair, waiting for something interesting to happen. Slowly they closed their eyes and bent their heads slightly. And then Naruto moved his forearm and blocked Gaara's view from seeing the outcome of their action.

The redhead grunted annoyed. Still, he had seen enough for that day and he left the couple alone. At least for that day.

* * *

Sakura blamed everything on the early morning. On her sleep-deprived brain. And on her workaholic being. The day before that morning, she went to bed too late, studied well into the night and woke up way too early for her liking. She didn't get enough sleep, especially because she had been writing her report for Tsunade-sama the other days as well, aside from school work. One thing led to the other and she just wasn't prepared for any sudden changes or any surprise attacks from anyone, much less from a certain redhead.

Sure, she had seen him literally jumping his way to her, skillfully avoided all the other students and then he was leaping high in the air and was in front of her in a second. Automatically, she was reaching out to pat him, just like every morning. Even Kiba-kun wasn't commenting on their weird relationship anymore. But Gaara-kun had other plans that day.

In a blink of an eye he had invaded her personal space, brought his nose near hers and rubbed them against each other. His joyful eyes were looking intently into her wide green ones. Surprisingly she still looked dazzling to him, even with those red sparks obscuring her sclera. His strong arms were holding her upper arm and he purred contently.

Kiba-kun appeared to have thawed out, because she could hear him yelling loudly behind her. Moments before Kiba could grab the cheerful boy, Gaara licked her lips and jumped back, avoiding Kiba's punch. Unfortunately for Gaara, he jumped right into someone else and before he could even turn around, the redhead was met with a fist so fast, he hadn't noticed it until it was right in front of his face.

"Gaara!" Finally liberated from her initial shock, Sakura scurried over to Gaara, who was sitting disoriented on the floor, his cheek a nasty red mess. A short blood trail running out of his nose.

"Sakura! Stay away from him!" Sasuke was in front of her, before she could reach the redhead. He grabbed her upper arm and yanked her harshly away from the eyesore. His eyes were blazing with an ugly rage, promising pain.

"You're hurting me!" Sakura struggled to free herself and winced when he – instead of letting her go – applied more pressure on her arm. This made Gaara growl threateningly. He was on all four in a moment and jumped on Sasuke in the next one.

The raging beast bit Sasuke's hand firmly, drawing blood. Said-boy screamed, released Sakura's arm and tried to free himself from the insane boy but Gaara didn't stop his attack. Seeing blood droplets dripping onto the wooden ground, Sakura was behind Gaara in a flash. One arm was over his head, blocking Gaara's view, and the other one was embracing him firmly. "It's okay now, Gaara-kun. I'm fine, you can stop now, please!"

Trying to keep her voice steady and calm, she attempted to pull him away from Sasuke. Slowly, he lessened the pressure he had on his target, his focus solely on her voice and he let himself getting pulled back into soft, calming serenity. "Breath in and breath out, Gaara-kun. Just like that." He did as he was told, breathing in his salvation. Surrounded by her scent he was lulled into a peaceful state of mind.

Meanwhile, Sakura was anything but peaceful. He didn't support his weight at all, trusting her to do all the work and so they flopped down clumsily unto the ground. With him between her legs. Her eyes darted from Gaara to Sasuke, back and forth, trying to keep herself calm. As long as she was calm, Gaara was stable too. She kept repeating that in her mind, but her body wouldn't stop trembling.

Fortunately, the guy leaning heavily against her didn't seem to notice her tremble. Seeing him like that, she was reminded back to the forest, where they met for the first time. Back then his mouth was blood-stained too, red all over his mouth. Dripping onto the green forest meadow. Why didn't she fear him back then? In contrast to then, where his whole lower face had been covered in red, he only had a few droplets hanging around his mouth now.

Looking closely, he hadn't changed that much appearance-wise. The same round face, the same sharp teeth, the same clear, piercing eyes. Her arms instinctively tightened around him, keeping him close. In response, he rolled over in her arms, his face inches away from hers.

Their position must have looked quite intimate, but Sakura didn't care for once. One of her arms was hanging loosely around his neck, the other one was grasping his shirt firmly, not wanting to let go. Not trusting in herself to be able to.

He was leaning over her, left hand inches away from her hip on the ground, supporting his weight. The other one snaking over to her face, lightly touching her cheek and she leaned into his hand. Rough and calloused but firm. He seemed to be searching for something on her face and when he found it, he leaned closer and licked a spot right above her lips. A tear had been crawling its way down towards her lip. His tongue felt strange on her face.

She hadn't noticed that she had shed a tear, but looking closely, there seemed to be a blood track from the right corner of his mouth to his chin. She wasn't sure if it was his blood or Sasuke's blood mixed together with her tear. The shock must have brought them up. He came closer once more, this time near her eyes and she closed her eyes in reflex. Another tear rolled down her cheek but was instantly licked away.

Pulling him firmly, she snaked her arms around his torso and placed her head in the crook of his neck. Even though she didn't shed any more tears, he kept lapping her face softly and she didn't stop him from doing so. And slowly, her tremble ceased into nothingness.

* * *

Author's note  
I do not own Naruto. This is purely for entertainment purposes.  
I'm struggling with the rating, the characters and the genres. Maybe you've noticed I've changed them constantly. Oops. Any suggestions? Especially the rating is giving me a headache.  
Thank you for all the lovely reviews, favorites and follows!  
And also, thank you for reading.


	7. Mai, and a flower

**Chapter 7 – Mai, and a flower**

Class 2-1 were… a little different from other classes. It was more like a gathering of strong individual personalities, trying to fit in and shine through all at the same time. They worked well together if needed, even though they had vast differences in opinions and values. This might sound like any other classes as well, but what did set them apart from those types, were their background, their upbringing. Or rather, the influential and powerful connections they had.

There was the Hokage's son, with his loud and enthusiastic personality, acting as the class clown and its mood maker. His best friend, the second son of the police chief, a silent guy with an incredible brain. Naturally, with his logical thinking, he was one of the two class representatives. Then, there was the heiress of the Hyuuga clan, one of the biggest and most influential clan in Konoha, with her calm and generous character. The lovely angel of the class, if you wanted to call her that. Among other not less important figures forming the future of not only Konoha, but also the whole Fire country. All together in one class, the elite class some people liked to call it.

In addition, the class got a new member during the start of the second year, the adopted son of the Kazekage no less. Another colorful addition to the bunch of strong personas. And even with all those interesting personalities, his mix into the class had a giant impact on the atmosphere of it. While Itachi and Sasuke had a secret task to overshadow him, it was Sakura who managed to find out the most about his identity. The boys only had to reduce and minimize the attacks on the new student, and everything went back to how it used to be. With small incidents here and there, nothing worth mentioning.

That was until a week ago, the incident between the new student and the composed guy. Obviously, the headmaster wasn't happy about that. A fight between the Kazekage's son and the son of the police chief no less.

"So? What happened?" Sitting on his comfortable chair, the headmaster watched them both with serene eyes. On his left Uchiha Sasuke with an injured hand, on his right Sabaku no Gaara with a swollen cheek and a bloody nose and behind them their homeroom teacher Hatake Kakashi.

While Sasuke was sitting upright on his chair, looking almost bored at the headmaster, Gaara was crouching on his, staring intently at the old man in front of him. Always glancing back towards the door, where a pink-haired student was ordered to clean up her blood-stained face, before coming back. A weird sentence to say out loud. Neither of them said a word.

"Do you both really want me to call your parents?" The headmaster threatened. It was just a bluff, but it got the intended reaction he wanted. No way in hell was he going to call one of their parents, if it could be avoided, but the students didn't need to know that.

Both perked up by the mention of their parents and funnily, they reacted almost exactly the same way. Both pair of eyes widened, their breath hitched, their faces paled visibly, and the headmaster could see their minds were working restlessly for something to say.

Finally, the class rep answered. "There is no need for that, Sarutobi-sensei. We were… just having an argument. But it will never happen again." He finished lamely. The headmaster watched them for a few seconds longer, in case they wanted to add something, but they didn't.

"A violent argument. What am I going to say to your parents? Hm?"

"I… fell during gym classes."

"Me too."

And that was it. Everything went back to how it was, the year ended nicely and a few years later they graduated without problems. Or so Kakashi wished. But when Sarutobi-sensei called him and the other teachers for another meeting later – the second one already and summer wasn't even there yet – he prayed that it wasn't more trouble coming his way.

Needless to say, he wasn't even surprised when he got another student from an influential clan. On the contrary, it would have frightened him if his luck suddenly decided to pop out, after all these years. But one can still hope.

"From the Shimura-clan?" Asuma asked astonished. "Isn't it tradition for them to be home tutored?"

"Yes, it is tradition. But Danzo-kun decided, his grandson needs to learn how to interact with people his age. Apparently, he's a little shy and unexperienced to have around." Sarutobi-sensei answered while nodding approvingly. "Therefore, try to help him to get used to the class, Kakashi-kun. I'm counting on you."

_Yeah. As if I didn't have enough to do with the class as it is now_, Kakashi thought dryly. But what came out of his mouth was, "Of course, Sarutobi-sensei", along with his famous eye-crinkle smile.

* * *

When Sai was first introduced to the class, they were all cautious around him. Everyone knew that the Shimura clan was one of the strictest clans there was in Konoha, if not in the whole Fire country. Tradition was the most essential thing of that clan, so they weren't sure how to approach him. In addition, his attitude didn't help him at all, and he didn't seem to mind the distance between him and the class. So they didn't mind it too.

Gaara liked the new guy though. He definitely got less stares during the first few days with him around and the new guy was silent and blank, a nice change with all the loud humans surrounding him. If it wasn't for the fact, that his task wasn't to befriend anyone anymore, and instead to spend more time with Sakura, he would have made him his next target for sure.

Lately, it had been getting hotter, Gaara could feel it in the dry wind that occasionally blew and the blazing sun, shining throughout the day. Summer was clearly around the corner. But with the sun, there came the heat and it was unbearably hot in this village. He really missed the forest.

He was sitting on the window sill, both legs bouncing outside, his back turned to the class, surveying the school ground for his favorite human on the whole planet. Just when he decided to take of his annoying shirt, he felt ominous eyes on his back. He sat up immediately, ready to jump into safety, but nobody was looking his way. Some of his classmates were looking at him – his sudden turn had surprised them – but he wasn't searching for those confused eyes.

His shirt was loosely hanging on one of his arms, the fabric tickling him lightly, alive with the wind, but he wasn't concerned with that at the moment. His cautious eyes briefly met questioning black ones. But then they turned away, skillfully ignoring his stare.

"Gaara-kun! What are you doing there? Be careful!" Sakura's voice tore his attention back towards the outside. Turning his head, he saw her walking over to the school entrance, two floors beneath the classroom. Next to her were Hinata and Ino, all of them carrying a bag full of food. He saw her widen her eyes while shaking her head and heard her repeatedly say _"Nonono"_, realizing her mistake, but it was too late.

The redhead had already jumped from the second floor and landed crouched on the floor, effectively startling several students during the process. Striding those ten meters separating them, he engulfed her in a hug. Before he could start licking her face, her hand shot out and clammed his mouth shut. She waved her friends away, telling them to go inside first and they did under giggles and laughter. Then she turned back to him.

"Gaara-kun. I've told you, don't just jump from the second floor! No, wait. Don't jump from any floors! You could have used the door, like any other person." She scolded him, her hand still on his mouth.

He wasn't sure why she was reprimanding him. That was the same as telling him to stop jumping forever, which was confusing. Nobody prohibited them to stop walking too, right?

"And we've been through this one as well." With her free hand, she motioned to his mouth. "Not in public."

He nodded his head obediently and she replaced her hand on his face, pulling him subtly towards hers until their foreheads were touching lightly. "But this is okay. Got it?"

Again, he nodded and pulled her body to his, embracing her. That earned him a surprised squeak and a light blush. "I only went to buy lunch. Did you miss me already?"

Without waiting for his response this time, she took his half-discarded shirt and looked him sternly in the eyes. She hadn't noticed it before, but somewhen between their meeting in front of the school entrance months ago and now, he had grown a couple of inches. Or was it the way he held himself? His posture was straighter, he clearly was less hunched over than before. Nevertheless, he did have a growth spurt. They were the same height now.

"Gaara-kun, I know it's getting hotter, but if you can manage to live through it, please at least wear this shirt. Summer isn't even here yet, what are you going to do when you're half-naked now already?" He took the sleeve she offered, snaked his arm through the fabric, while making a troubled expression.

"You know the headmaster ordered you to abide by the school rules, just like everyone else. He's already extremely lenient with you. You wouldn't want to get into trouble because some parents complained about your attire, right?"

That got her an immediate negative shake of his head. "Why can't I be half-naked?" He asked instead.

"It's… indecent." Sakura finished lamely and even she was unconvinced, while saying it out loud. It only seemed to further trouble Gaara too, so she added. "Just like touching people randomly, even if you are befriended with them. Some people just don't like it. You know?"

"You don't like it?" Gaara asked, his expression absolutely terrified and she forced her laugh down. "No, I didn't mean that. I like it, if it's you." She told him honestly.

Smiling reassuringly, she touched his face as if to prove it to him. Just when Gaara decided to grab her face in return as well, she abruptly turned around and reached into her bag. Unaware of his intentions. His hand floated mid-air and unsure what to do with it, he took it back in a snap decision.

"Here", Sakura took out a cooled water bottle, "for you. It _is_ getting hotter now."

Giving her a joyful smile, he took the bottle and uncapped it, just to dump the content over his head. Sakura jumped back in surprise but then – seeing as he was utterly happy to have a refreshment – she laughed heartily. _Oh well, my fault. That was kind of obvious._

He tried to embrace her again, but she evaded him and squeaked loudly. Both unaware of a pair of black orbs watching them.

* * *

Sasuke didn't know why he did it. Leaning against the classroom window, he observed his classmates, who were happily chasing after each other. They seemed oblivious to the attention they were drawing. Even though it hurt him to watch them like that, he couldn't look away. Aside from the hurt and jealousy, there was also a mix of… Longing and regret. And happiness too. Still, he was glad when Naruto finally force-broke his attention.

"Yo, Sasuke!" Screaming unabashed from the classroom door, Naruto held up a bag. "It's lunch time!"

Sasuke glanced one last time outside the window and then followed his friend out of the classroom and went upstairs.

"What were you doing? Everyone's waiting for you!" Before Sasuke could give him a lame answer, Naruto blocked his way in the middle of the stairs. Looking up, Sasuke saw him sporting one of his serious faces. "I've been wanting to tell you. Gaara wants to court Sakura-chan."

Giving him an annoyed look, Sasuke evaded him to the right. "Wow. You've realized it earlier than I thought."

"You knew?"

"Everyone knew, Dobe." Sasuke stopped but didn't turn around. "You're the only one, who didn't know."

"So. The fight last week? Was that about Sakura-chan?" It was almost a miracle, how nobody aside from him, the redhead, Sakura and Kiba knew about the kiss. Even though there were so many spectators around. Maybe it wasn't something new to them, to see the redhead being all touchy with the pink-haired student.

But he had lost his control. Him, of all people.

"… Yeah."

There was a deafening silence and then. "How are you?"

Sasuke wanted to laugh. After a week, his best friend decided to ask him such a stupid question. But then again, he had thought that Sasuke just didn't like Gaara in general and he wasn't aware about the real cause of the fight.

"I haven't heard her laugh for a long time." Sasuke said instead. Turning around, he was startled to see Naruto right in front of him. He hadn't even heard him getting closer. _Sneaky little bastard._

"Yeah. Me neither." Naruto smiled sadly, looking down at his shoes. "Two years? Since her dad's death…"

Sasuke nodded. Two years already. "I'm glad she found someone who could make her laugh again." Turning back around, Sasuke took the next stairs up. Leaving a perplexed Naruto behind.

"So. You're giving up? Just like that?"

"We've tried it once. And it didn't work."

"But I thought, that was because of her dad." _And your dad_, swirled heavily between them. Unsaid but heard.

"No. It was way before the incident with her dad." Sasuke turned another corner and disappeared. This made Naruto hastily fly up the stairs, to stand in front of him again, effectively blocking his way. It was rare for Sasuke to be so talkative and Naruto wasn't going to let this chance go to waste.

"Why did you never tell me?" Naruto whispered. His arms spread wide open, the bag hanging heavily on his wrist.

"You never asked." Sighing deeply, Sasuke didn't look one bit affected by their talk. But Naruto knew him better. "Stop blocking the way. I'm hungry."

"You still love her." The blonde looked him straight in the eyes. Sasuke couldn't fool him. He might be able to fool himself, but not Naruto. Sasuke stared impassively back at him. Deeply in control of his emotions, his poker face unwavering.

"Who knows."

* * *

Naruto and Hinata weren't bad role models. In fact, they were the best. Both loved by everyone, always helpful, and fully believing in the good of humans. But sometimes, they were just so boring. Gaara thought that mates were supposed to cuddle up, to lick each other and to pat one another, but all they did was sitting next to each other on the park bench, talking about everything and nothing.

From the rooftop Gaara was perched on, he could see Naruto waving his arms around frantically and Hinata laughing at his demonstrations. They weren't even touching each other. The redhead went up and down the small space on the roof a few times and then glanced over at them again. Still, nothing worth his attention. Maybe he should get closer and see if he could pick up something about their conversation?

He was preparing to jump over to the next building, when he felt a sinister aura nearby. His senses immediately switched to flight mode and he ducked low, pressing his body flat on the dirty plateau. His neighbors, the pigeons, undisturbed by his dramatic behavior. Cooing around him while sunning calmly.

For a while, he stayed like that, even after the evil aura had already vanished for some time. Then, the redhead dared to get a quick look on the street. Nothing that screamed of danger, but still, that didn't mean there wasn't anything to worry about. The redhead had survived that long because of his fine-tuned senses, and they had never given out a false alarm.

Checking his surroundings once more, he detected the blank guy walking along the street and Ino just down said-street. He should definitely warn those two, just to be on the safe side. Hopping off the roof, he landed safely on the ground, ignored the squeals around him and dashed over to Ino. Within seconds he traversed the distance between them and made a full-stop in front of her.

Her back was turned to him and she was watering the plants, humming to herself. Uncertain how to make himself known, he growled in despair. Shocking her to death with his sudden noise, she would have slammed the watering pot into his face, if he hadn't blocked it in time. The water inside tipped over and splashed his face. But he only blinked. There was an urgent matter to accomplish.

"Gaara! You scared me!" Breathing deeply, she placed a hand over her erratic heartbeat. "What are yo-"

"Stay inside with him." Gaara interrupted her mid-sentence and turned her around so abruptly that she got dizzy.

"What? Who?" Looking around, she couldn't follow his lead, even after he was impatiently pointing the direction to her. He could be pointing at any of the passersby. How should she know who he meant? And for what reason?

"Stay inside." He repeated and rotated back, already dismissing Ino, but she took a hold of his sleeve, preventing him from leaving. Visibly distressed, Ino's eyes were looking everywhere, trying to perceive what got him – and her – this agitated. But aside from the redhead himself, she hasn't discovered anything else suspicious.

"Wait, wait, wait! Why do we have to stay inside? Where are you going? WHO IS HIM?" Gaara kind of regretted to have picked her to talk to the new guy. She was one of the loudest people he knew, and she seemed to like proving it whenever a chance rose up. But she was the nearest person whom he felt comfortable talking to. And there was no use regretting it anymore.

"Dangerous out here. Saving Naruto and Hinata. Blank guy." Still, he preferred to keep the talking to a minimum. Once again, he indicated to the other side and when she looked over, he silently bounced off. Searching for 'blank guy', she finally saw someone she knew. It was Sai, the new guy. _The blank guy, huh?_ Looking back towards the redhead, she wasn't surprised to see him gone.

"Sai-kun!" Waving enthusiastically, she was determined to help Gaara out. Keeping him inside? Easy. But Sai didn't seem to hear her. He went straight ahead, completely ignoring her. Even though everyone else was staring at her, whispering among themselves. She huffed elegantly, put her hair back gracefully and strode towards him. This little attention wasn't of concern to her.

"Sai-kun! Did you not hear me? I need you help and it's urgent!" Grabbing his arm, she dragged him forcefully back to her shop. The blank boy stared at her quietly. He didn't stop her but didn't outright help her as well. "You just came at the right moment. What do you think? Should we put the asters or the chrysanthemums out?"

Holding both flower pots each in one hand, she proudly showed them to him. She was clearly struggling with this difficult choice. But Sai wasn't concerned about the flowers. He was intently watching her.

"Asters are quite popular nowadays, especially because they come in a vast range of colors, but chrysanthemums have always been the most popular flowers, ranked second just behind roses. So, what do you think?" Finally looking up, she was surprised by his intense stare. Which wasn't directed to the lovely flowers in her hands. Blushing lightly, she averted her eyes, a first for her.

"Why are you asking me?"

Ino blinked once. "Well. I couldn't decide which one to display, so…"

"So I should decide?"

Smiling brightly, she nodded. He was quick on the uptake. Ino didn't know why everyone seemed to make a bee-line around him. He was the new guy! Surely, that must have hurt him, even if he looked always calm and disinterested. She had approached him once before, but the conversation had been cut short back then. In her opinion, he was quite the gentlemen and the mysterious type. A nice combi if you asked her.

"I don't think I'm the right person to ask. If you'll excuse me, Yamanaka-san." Giving her a curt nod, he was on his way to the exit.

"Wait!" Ino quickly placed both pots on the counter and rushed after him. Before he could reach the door, she grabbed his wrist and yanked him back. Within a second, Sai was holding her hand and twisted it in a painful way, completely locking it. Ino cringed and screeched terribly.

"It hurts! Let go! It hurts!"

Blinking rapidly, Sai released her at once and took a step back, as if the distance could lessen her pain. "Sorry. You shouldn't grab me from behind. I… don't like it."

"Yeah. Thanks for the reminder." She tried to sooth the pain by rubbing her wrist. "So, are you going to help me now, or what?" She didn't even wait for his answer. Turning back towards her flowers, she placed both pots into his stiff hands.

"One of them is going to be displayed in front of the shop and the other one at the back. You decide." She gave both of her babies another stroke and a smile made its way on her lips.

"Why do you like plants so much?"

Ino's perfect eyebrows twitched minutely, nevertheless, Sai perceived it. "Don't call them plants. I don't like it."

"And what should I call them if not plants?"

"Call them… Babies."

She was joking, but the blank boy didn't get it. And Sai was definitely not going to call them babies. But at least Yamanaka-san smiled again. So instead, he chose to ignore her response. "What do you like about them?"

"Well. They spark joy whenever you see one. Don't you think so? And they turn into such a beautiful being, if you only take good care of them. Somehow, they have a majestic presence on them. Every single one is different. Each bringing another meaning with them. I still have a lot to learn from them..."

"Different meanings?" Sai couldn't really follow her train of thoughts, and only managed to grasp this one sentence, but still. Looking at the plants in his hands, he wasn't sure where their difference lay. Both had various colors, those called asters had a yellow center and the chrysanthemums were bushier, but those were the only difference he observed. Plants were plants. Yamanaka-san could have just selected both, why bother wasting time with useless things.

"Yes. Asters for example represent patience and daintiness, whereas Chrysanthemums signify optimism and long life. But depending on the color, their meaning differs a bit as well. Isn't that amazing?"

_That doesn't even make sense_, was what Sai thought. Once again, he didn't say it out loud though. "Then the chrysanthemums should be displayed outside and the asters inside."

"Right? That's what I thought as well! You're a great help Sai-kun!"

_Then why didn't you just do so?_

* * *

Author's note  
I do not own Naruto. This is purely for entertainment purposes.  
Well, I just can't seem to write a decent introduction scene. I'll have to do something about that.  
Thanks for all the amazing reviews! I hope you're not too disappointed with how it's dealt with.  
To all the readers, thank you for reading!


	8. Surrounded by good hearts

**Chapter 8 – Surrounded by good hearts…**

"-and so, we'll be going to Nobigakure for the school trip." Sakura finished her speech. Cheers were heard from most of the students, some groans, but mostly cheers. "Please tell either Sasuke or me about your group preferences until tomorrow and we'll inform you about your specific group assignments until Friday this week."

"Thank you, Sakura-kun, Sasuke-kun." Kakashi nodded and both returned to their seats. For a few moments, the classroom stayed in a tranquil silence. Everyone was occupied with their own thoughts, while Kakashi's bored eyes overlooked his class. Suddenly, the school bell rang and Kakashi was the first one, who packed up his stuff. "Alright, class. See you tomorrow."

"Attention class!" Sakura's voice hollered through the classroom and her classmates followed her example. While they stood up, Kakashi was scurrying out of the door. "Ready?" Still, it was protocol and so, the class bid farewell to whoever wanted to hear it.

"See you tomorrow, Kakashi-sensei." The class chorused.

"So Nobigakure, huh? I bet you'll like it, Gaara!" Unexpectedly, Naruto popped up next to the redhead and patted him on his back. "You'll like the forest there, it's one of the biggest we have here in Fire country."

Gaara looked at him somewhat intimidated but predominantly excited. "A forest? You think I'll get permission to go with you?" His friend looked at him blankly and blinked confused. "You mean, you need permission to go out of Konoha?"

The redhead only nodded, trying to see behind the blonde loudmouth and get the attention of a certain pink-haired class rep. But she was currently involved in a conversation with some other classmates.

"If that's the case, don't worry. I'll talk to my dad and get you out of it, at least for the school trip." Gaara nodded gratefully, but Naruto could see his concentration lay elsewhere. Peeking behind him, his suspicion was confirmed. Grinning stupidly, he lay an arm around Gaara's shoulder. "You know, there's a lake near our vacation home, so… We'll be having a midnight swim for sure. Secretly of course. So don't tell Kaka-sensei."

Looking from the heavy arm to the blonde's sky-blue eyes, he was met with several winks. Unsure how to react to that, he mimicked the blonde and gave him innocent blinks.

Huffing disappointed, Naruto nudged the redhead. "You don't get what I mean. Swim + girls = bikini!" Again, the blonde wiggled with his eyebrows. "And I bet you'd like to see this pretty lady over there in her bikini. Eh? Eh?"

Gaara stared at the pretty lady and stated the obvious. "What is a bikini?"

* * *

To Sasuke's annoyance, the redhead just didn't understand what "_wait until we're finished"_ meant. His interactions with the wolf boy were still a bit awkward, mostly because the redhead kept growling at him, no matter what he did. Even Itachi had already pestered him a few times about said-boy's interesting reaction towards him. For Sasuke's part, he came to terms with their weird relationship. Thinking about it, everyone had a weird relationship with the redhead. Which in return meant they had a pretty normal relationship, right?

"Sasuke?" A small delicate hand waved in front of his face.

"Hm?"

"Just ignore him. He'll get around it someday. _Hopefully._" The last word was whispered more to herself than to him. After giving the redhead a reassuring smile and a thumbs up – which Gaara copied –, Sakura hasn't even glanced at Gaara's direction once since Sasuke had discovered the redhead's new spying spot. She was solely focused on the task in front of her.

Perched on a tree branch right outside of their classroom, Gaara was intently watching them. With the black circles surrounding his piercing eyes, to any outsiders, he might have looked immensely angry. But Sasuke knew he was just observing them.

Sakura and Sasuke had been staying in their classroom after school and were going through their additional work as class representatives. The summer school trip was a few weeks away and they had to prepare everything in advance to presenting them to the class. At least with works like that, Sasuke could help her. They agreed for her to do most of the talking during classes, and him helping her with all the paper work. Usually, Sasuke didn't like jobs like that. It did have its advantages being the class rep, but he wasn't interested in them.

They had been class reps since their middle school years and worked well together. But after the incident with her dad, Sakura got unhealthily obsessed with work and practically drowned herself in them. When they started high school, she even started apprenticing under Tsunade-sensei, aside from her volunteering as class representative. It didn't take Sasuke long to volunteer along with her. He wasn't going to let herself work to death.

"You've been smiling more often lately." Sasuke commented randomly while sorting through his documents. Apart from her healthier taint, he had observed she had gained a little weight in these months since a certain redhead had shown up.

Halting in her writing, she looked up. Sasuke was sure she couldn't see it – since the back of her head was facing Gaara – but he noticed how the redhead shifted on his branch. Sasuke might be perceptive if it concerned Sakura, but so was Gaara. In addition, the redhead seemed to have an awful great eyesight, if he could detect her hesitation from the tree over there. _That guy is a real beast_, Sasuke thought.

"Yes. I've been." She gave him a small smile. "I haven't slept like this for a long time, I have to admit."

Her green eyes lowered to the table and she was absentmindedly playing with her pen. But Sasuke was content seeing her like that. Healthy, strong, beautiful, full of life. That was the Sakura he knew. He had missed her. Deeply.

"Even though I don't sleep more than usually, I feel great. I've been eating well too, and I've been… enjoying life I guess." Her bright green eyes raised once again, sparkling joyfully. Sasuke's hand was magically pulled towards the pink-haired beauty in front of him, as if it was alive. Casually, his hand brushed against her hair, putting it behind her ear. Lingering there longer than necessary.

"I'm sure Kizashi-sama would be proud of you." Sasuke stared unabashed into her eyes, conveying his feelings. He withdrew his hand without touching her. Sakura giggled and slapped him on his upper arm. "And I'm sure he would scold you again for calling him Kizashi-sama instead of Kizashi."

Sasuke snatched her hand before she could retreat it. Gripping them tightly, he leaned forward, so that he was slightly towering over her. His hair fell over his face, obscuring it from being seen by any observers on the window side. Sasuke wasn't too close to appear inappropriate but it was enough to rile up a certain redhead. Giving her a genuine smile, he whispered, only for her to hear. "And I'm really glad that you met Gaara."

Not a second later, there was a loud bang coming from the window. Abruptly turning towards the noise, Sakura was up and made her way towards said-window. Gaara was clutching at its frame, growling impatiently while trying to break the poor glass. Sakura unlocked it and swiftly swiped it open.

Gaara would have bounced into the room and decimated his raven-haired classmate, if it wasn't for Sakura, who was stubbornly holding him back. "Gaara-kun. Stop. He's teasing you on purpose."

"But-"

"No buts. Really. See? He's having fun teasing you."

And indeed, Sasuke was smirking while casually leaning back on his seat. Gaara looked utterly confused but didn't seem like he would spring on him any moment. Sakura released him and proceeded to push him towards the classroom door. "We're not finished yet, so please wait a bit longer."

"No, I want to stay." The redhead evaded her and took a seat in-between theirs, right next to Sasuke. The raven-haired class rep was still smirking arrogantly, which made Gaara huff in annoyance.

"No, you're not. We really need to finish this today, Gaara-kun."

Looking hurt, Gaara whipped his head around. Giving her his best 'puppy look', as the girls called it. "I'll be good this time. Promise."

Sasuke piped up for the first time since the redhead entered the room. "Yeah, the last time you said that, you were continuously distracting-"

"I'll stay silent and I won't distract you." Gaara seemed totally distraught. Even Sasuke couldn't help but sigh. He somewhat regretted his earlier action. Still, it was fun.

"No touching. Not even leaning against me." Sakura was intently staring at Gaara and the redhead nodded obediently. She looked over to Sasuke, silently asking for his permission. They held eye contact for a few moments, until he gave her a tired nod. It was mostly his fault anyway.

"Fine, but you'll sit over here." Sakura motioned to the seat next to her. "I need to discuss things with Sasuke, without you blocking us."

And Gaara complied happily.

* * *

A few weeks later, class 2-1 was seated in their school bus, on their way towards Nobigakure. While the village on itself was more of a tourist attraction – with the main attraction being the 'Fire Temple' – it was also a place where all the spiritual inspired people gathered. Nobigakure was mostly surrounded by a big forest and just one part of it was aligned with the lake. Especially at night there seemed to be mysterious noises coming from the forest and the lake itself, or so the villagers claimed.

Mysterious, because the statement differed from person to person. Some claimed it to be the siren of a minx, trying to seduce men into the deepest part of the lake. Others were convinced it was the fluttering of the clothes from the dancing fairies, eager to feast on them after their demonstration. Whatever it was, there was definitely something mystical in the forest, around the lake, enveloping the village.

Sometimes, villagers – and occasionally visitors too – would lose their way in the forest, until they suddenly emerged from it, perfectly unhurt and strangely super content. As if they had found their salvation or were cleansed from all their troubles. Investigations led to the belief, that they were being protected by a wolf, who led them safely out of the forest. But those were all just legends.

Sai was sitting next to Yamanaka-san, the only one aside from Uzumaki-san who were notably trying to really get into an interesting conversation with him. He didn't mind them talking to him, but Yamanaka-san lately had been more aggressive towards him, he noticed. Her eyes visibly sought him out during classes, her attire changed, even her appearance was more stunning, or was it just him?

Even though she came from an influential clan – at least from her father's side –, instead of getting dragged into family businesses, she much preferred spending her time helping in running her mom's cozy little shop. Luckily, her father supported her 100%. The Yamanaka-clan was indeed a more carefree clan than the Shimura-clan.

Still, Sai couldn't afford to get on her bad side. Neither could he allow to get into an argument with Uzumaki-san, or Uchiha-san, or Hyuuga-san. Well, actually he tried not to get into trouble with any of his classmates. They were all from important and powerful clans. Involved with his grandfather in one way or the other.

All of them, aside from the pink-haired nobody.

It rubbed Sai the wrong way, how everything appeared to evolve around her. Her, the nobody of the class. Not from a big clan, not influential or interesting in any way. And even less so, since Haruno Kizashi's death. Nothing remarkably outstanding about her at all, aside from her grades maybe. And yet, there she was, sitting next to the Kazekage's son. Being protected by Uchiha Fugaku's second son. Scolding the Hokage's son. Laughing happily with the Hyuuga heiress.

Strangely enough, she was even one of the class representatives and the apprentice of Senju Tsunade-sensei, who had only taken one other woman as her apprentice in her whole life so far. And Sai just couldn't figure out what everyone saw in her, what made her so special.

However, his anger towards the nobody, couldn't compete against his wrath for the beast next to her. And as if the redhead could feel his stare on his back, said-guy turned around and Sai quickly turned his attention towards his blabbing seatmate. All traces of emotions gone in a split second.

* * *

"The Sealed Iron Wall has never been breached, aside from two times, according to the legend. The first time by a kitsune and the second time by a powerful organization, who wanted to get the great Chiriku-sa-"

Zenza was rudely interrupted by one of the students. It was the rowdy redhead once again, Gaara-san, if he remembered correctly. But the young monk wasn't fazed at all by his antics. In contrast, he was smiling to himself. It always filled him with a sense of joy, whenever he saw people like Gaara. Full of energy, discovering the unknown and always eager to challenge the world.

Gaara was perched on said-Iron Wall, turning this and that way. Looking over the small old village, breathing in the clean air around him. Twisting his body towards the forest, he detected familiar creatures. Scurrying over the shaded forest ground, searching for easy prey, hiding under thick bushes. So close and yet so far. As if they were calling out to him, his hindlegs automatically changed position. Ready to jump down in a blink.

"Gaara-kun! Get down here, this second!" Sakura was yelling up at him from the ground on the other side. Whipping his head towards his favorite human, he gave her a happy grin. Laughing to himself, he exclaimed excitedly. "Sakura-kun! The forest is everywhere!"

It was the second day of their stay in Nobigakure. After arriving the day before, they were free to roam the village. Gaara was permitted to leave Konoha, only on one condition; To not act alone. That wasn't a problem at all, since the students were prohibited to move anywhere alone.

Their temporary house was a wooden hut, specially made for bigger groups. The location was almost too perfect to be true. It was in the middle of the big forest and just a five-minute walk to the lake. The village was a bit farther away, but still near enough in case of an emergency. And their neighbors were – aside from wild animals – the monks, who lived in the Fire Temple.

"I apologize for his behavior, Zenza-san. It's been a while since he came out of Konoha." Kakashi smiled. Eyes focused on the redhead. From behind them, a new voice answered him.

"No need to apologize. We're always happy to see people enjoying our village." An old monk laughed earnestly and approached the class. "Besides, this wolf boy is certainly an interesting fellow. In our village, wolves are a good omen. Isn't that right, Zenza?"

"Of course, Bansai-sama." Zenza bowed at him and then proceeded to introduce him to their visitors. "Kakashi-sensei, class 2-1, this is Bansai-sama. The head monk of Fire Temple."

"Thank you for having us, Bansai-sama." Kakashi bowed low and his students followed his example. Even Gaara jumped back down and mimicked their posture, after Sakura's scolding section. "Why are wolves considered a good omen, if I may ask?"

"They used to lead lost villagers and tourists out of the forest." Zenza decided to answer him. "But we haven't seen any around, sadly."

Giving them a polite nod, Bansai was staring intently at the redhead. Not missing a second, Gaara was already on the next statue, which was situated right next to the Sealed Iron Wall. Sitting idly at its head and copying its stance, he didn't move for a while. His laughing classmates didn't faze him, and it really looked like he was mediating.

This time around, Zenza did move forward, feeling the urge to protect Chiriku-sama's statue at least. However, he was stopped by his mentor. "Zenza-kun, please continue with the guide. I'd like to have a talk with this young boy."

Stepping forward, the head monk halted in front of the statue. He urged the pink-haired student to follow the others, and she did unwillingly, after warning the shounen to behave himself. Still, Bansai noticed, how this shoujo kept glancing back, as if to assure herself that he wasn't doing anything outrageous.

"Young boy, you appear like you're carrying a heavy burden with you." Bansai told him bluntly, once they were alone. The redhead didn't move away from Chiriku's head. Still, he did open his eyes and sat up on a more comfortable position.

Turning back around, Bansai observed that it wasn't only the pink-haired student, who gave them worried glances. There was also the Hokage's son, as well as other students. The monk smiled. "But it seems like you have found yourself loyal supporters, who are willing to help share your burden."

Glancing back up, he was bewildered to see the shounen gone and instead, the wild boy was standing right next to him. Too close to be appropriate. Bansai's surprise could only be detected by the minute widening of his deep sunken eyes. It has been a long time, since someone had last surprised him like that.

The redhead was sniffling on him, and from far away, Bansai could hear the pink-haired student exclaiming some fancy profanity, until her voice got muffled. One of her classmates was desperately trying to keep her mouth shut. Baffled, Bansai stood still and waited for the wolf boy's next action.

The shounen distanced himself with a bounce and frowned confused. He repeatedly wiped his nose with his hands, while making gurgling noises. Seeing his action, the shoujo was screeching behind the hand and Bansai only laughed amused at their antics. "Don't lose sight of your salvation, Shounen. Grab it with both hands and be grateful to be surrounded by good hearts."

Subtly pushing the student forward to his friends, he added as an afterthought. "I pray for your well-being. May you lead a happy long life."

* * *

"Did you find it Gaara-kun? We should hurry, the others are waiting." Sakura was standing a few feet behind the redhead, who was frantically searching for his swimming ring. Gaara was only wearing his black swimming shorts and Sakura was in her bikini, hidden beneath a light shirt. Both standing barefooted in the living room of their cozy hut.

It was the third night of their school trip. And finally, they decided to go for the midnight swim in the lake. On their way though, Gaara realized he forgot his swimming ring, the first ever present he got from his guardian. Even though the others told him to leave it, he didn't want to have brought it for naught.

It was an important gift he had received from the human he was to call 'uncle'. Proudly presenting the inflated ring to Sakura on the day they departed, she was quick to deflate it. _"There's no room for this on the bus."_ She said, while giving him a silly smile.

And thus, the redhead didn't listen to her and instead, inflated it again and even carried it throughout the journey on the bus. When they visited the Fire Temple though, the masked man told him to leave it in their temporary hut. _"Otherwise, they won't allow you inside the temple, Gaara-kun"_, he said and Gaara obeyed, after glancing to Sakura, who was sporting one of her serious looks.

And so, Sakura volunteered to go back with him. Kiba wanted to go with them, but she winked him away and told him to go first with the others. _"We'll be back in a minute"_, she exclaimed and winked.

"Found it!" Smiling joyfully, he immediately slithered into the rainbow-colored plastic ring and turned around. Sakura laughed at his cute expression.

"Okay, then we should-"

The lights suddenly went off. _A blackout?_

"Gaara-kun?" In the pitch-black darkness, Sakura tried to find her way towards Gaara, who was growling lowly. _He must be surprised._ "Don't worry, there must have been a power failure."

But Gaara wasn't afraid of the dark. No, his eyes were trained to see in the dark. But he could feel the sinister aura again. And it flooded the room so suddenly too!

Almost right after the blackout, they could hear glass breaking around them. First from behind them, then in front of them – one glass bounced off against Sakura's leg before it shattered on the ground –, until even the ground they were standing on was full of glass splitters. Sakura had started screaming terribly. And this only further unsettled Gaara.

Crouching lowly on the ground, his swimming ring burst with a loud bang. Adding further to his agitation and frightening Sakura on a whole new level. He ignored the searing pain on his hands, and instead hissed into the dark nothingness. Daring whoever out there to come at him.

"Gaara!" Sakura screamed desperately. Hearing the glass splitters clinking against each other combined with his flustered hiss, Sakura snapped out of her scared outburst. "D-Don't move Gaara! Stay still!"

Whimpering softly, she attempted to reach him blindly, arms outstretched. _He can't be far away! He was just right in front of me!_ But Gaara was still hissing angrily and shuffled away from the glass, towards the familiar silhouette. Just to step on another patch of glass.

"ARGH!"

"GAARA! Stop it!" In desperation, Sakura unconsciously made a hasty step forward and grinded into glass shards, tearing the delicate flesh apart. Instantly, she felt a scorching pain coming from her right foot and she collapsed hopelessly. She screeched in pain but Gaara's angry roar overtrumped her. Feeling a warm body against her shoulder, she grabbed it fiercely.

Despite her own body's shiver, she could feel the other person was trembling more immensely, shaking uncontrollably. She was grabbing its arm. Firm but thin. Rough, like sand. _Gaara!_

"Gaara, calm down! Don't move around. There are shards everywhere!" Searching blindly for his face, she managed to keep herself calm. She didn't even feel the pain anymore. Even though the shards must be boring into her knee and her right foot. _Must be the adrenaline_, Sakura thought unhelpful.

Her fingers were touching the sharp contours of his teeth and she directed her hand over to his cheek. But before she could move it away, he further opened his mouth and harshly bit into her fingers. She cried out in both surprise and pain and tried to yank her hand away, but he only increased the pressure.

Whimpering helplessly, she tried to suppress her cries, since it only seemed to fuel his aggression. He had long drawn blood. And just then, Sakura realized, that the whole room reeked of their blood. It was so hot in the room, the sweat seemed to evaporate instantly. Her fingers trembled and she tried to keep them still.

From behind her, she could hear someone dragging a wooden object on the floor. The sound of wood grinding on wood irritated and scared her. "Who- Who's there?"

The steps clinked on the ground, whenever the unknown stepped on the shards. Despite the pain she felt, she pressed her body closer to Gaara's, trying to shield him with her trembling vulnerable body. The steps halted momentarily, and then they faded away with a quick pace. Along with the wooden object.

"G-Gaara." Faintly touching his cheek with her left shivering hand, she leaned forward, closing her eyes, crying silently. Willing her body to stop shaking. "It's okay. You don't have to fight anymore."

Their foreheads touched lightly. She took deep breaths in and exhaled them again. "We're okay now. It's just us here." Slowly, she leant against him, their noses were softly brushing against each other.

Finally, he seemed to have regained his senses, because the pressure on her fingers receded gradually and then, as if burnt, he sprang away from her. "S… Sak… Sakura?"

She nodded and smiled tiredly while endless tears were flowing down her face. Not trusting her words, she bounced forward and embraced him firmly. She didn't let go of him even when he tried to break free of her tight hold.

* * *

Author's note  
I do not own Naruto. This is purely for entertainment purposes.  
This was another hard chap to write. Ugh…  
Thank you for the reviews, favorites and follows!  
Lastly, thank you for reading!


	9. And evil deeds

**Chapter 9 – … And evil deeds**

The last time Kiba had been keeping his distance from Sakura was two years ago, when she was dating Sasuke. And Kiba came to regret it sooner rather than later. After that, he made a promise to himself to never leave her alone again.

But after the incident with the idiot Bakugo from class 2-2, he broke his promise. In the hope, to see her _alive _once again. To see her happy once more. Really happy. He didn't regret his decision at all, for a while that was. She had been smiling and laughing earnestly more often. And all that due to a certain redhead.

And yet, when he complied to her wish to leave her and Gaara alone to fetch the redhead's swimming ring, he deeply wished he hadn't.

The others had gone to the lake first, leaving Sasuke and him behind, to wait for the duo. Normally, it would only take a five-minute walk down towards the lake, but up to their hut, which was located on a hill, took a ten-minute walk.

So, when they noticed something wrong with the hut – the lights went off and glass could be heard shattering – it took them both a split second to set into motion. Even though they were madly sprinting uphill, it took them a few minutes to reach the hut and once there, Kiba really wished he hadn't left them alone.

Both were bleeding on various places; Sakura's white shirt was colored with red stains and blood was dripping off Gaara's mouth. They were trembling uncontrollably and combined with Sakura's soft whimpers, who was desperately clutching to Gaara, it looked like the work of a madman. It took both Sasuke and Kiba a moment to really grasp the situation.

Everywhere was broken glass, some bloodied, spread over the whole living room. At least Sasuke and Kiba kept their sandals on, for once overgoing the tradition to take off the shoes in front of the entrance. The living room looked like a bloodbath. Kiba was momentarily overwhelmed by the horible stench, which was hanging in the air and he paled visibly, suppressing the urge to vomit.

Meanwhile, Sasuke was trying to pry Sakura away from Gaara, who hadn't moved once since they arrived at the scene. But she was firmly gripping Gaara to her while yelling both fearfully and desperately at the same time. Kiba could see on her posture, that she was actually shielding Gaara with her body.

_So this isn't the work of Gaara_, Kiba concluded. As if snapped out of his trance by this unstated accusation, Gaara growled at them threateningly. _Which means… Someone else did this_.

"Stay with them. I'm going to look around." Kiba declared promptly and was out of the room in the next moment. He searched the ground floor for someone, anyone, but there was no one around. The attacker either went upstairs to the bedrooms or left the hut before Sasuke and Kiba's arrival.

Meanwhile, Gaara was holding Sakura close to him and patted her head soothingly, just like how she used to do it. Softly, he touched her cheek and lifted her head off his neck.

She was fighting him unconsciously and attempted to bury her head once again. To Sasuke's astonishment, although the redhead looked meager and thin, he was stronger than her at least. And Sasuke knew for a fact, that Sakura wasn't weak herself.

The raven-haired class rep felt like an intruder witnessing their private moment and thus, he left them alone. There was only one entrance leading to the living room, so he might as well stand in front of it.

In the meantime, Gaara lightly touched Sakura's forehead with his and aligned their noses, never letting go of her head. Softly rubbing them against each other. In response, her tremble receded minutely. Encouraged by her reaction; he lightly licked her quivering lips. This seemed to surprise her, because she instantly opened her eyes, staring bewildered at him, her mouth clicked shut and her whimpers died down.

He repeated the action, and then, having tasted the salt on her lips, he proceeded to lick her tears away. First the tear tracks on her lips, then the tracks next to her lip. Sakura blinked and tears were streaming out again but before Gaara could leave her mouth region, to lick them away, Sakura had pressed her lips on his.

It felt weird to Gaara. Her lips were so soft against his, tasting so salty, it was confusing him. Her sudden obtrusiveness combined with his loud heartbeat were unfamiliar to him. His mind blanked, he stopped dead in his track and the only thing he could think of was her soft lips on his.

Hesitantly, he moved his head back, looking puzzled. In the next blink, her lips were on his once more, her arms found a place around his neck this time, trying to keep him there.

Gaara wasn't sure how much time went by, but when she retreated, her expression made Gaara even more anxious than her unusual behavior. She looked so hurt and lonely, a small sob found its way out and before she could further increase the distance between them, he instinctively held her back.

Leaning over her, he slowly snaked his hand up to her face. Inch by inch, he moved closer, as if his body was pulled by an invisible force to her, until his lips were lightly touching hers again. Unsure how to proceed, he gave her lips a small lick, which she reciprocated.

* * *

"Shimura-san, we need to talk."

Turning around, Sai was met with his two bandaged classmates. Strangely, it reminded him of his grandfather and unconsciously, he pushed this confusing thought away. "Can I help you?"

"Gaara-kun said you were the one who attacked us." Sakura said bluntly, looking him straight in the eyes. Behind her, she could hear Gaara grumbling softly.

"So?" Blinking once, he turned back towards the exit. Effectively ending their one-sided conversation. _He doesn't even try to deny it_, Sakura thought angrily.

"Why?" She half-screamed. Sighing deeply, she tried to control her anger. It was a blessing that everyone was still sleeping, aside from them. One couldn't sleep, the other couldn't bother to sleep and the last one was accustomed to not sleeping. The perfect opportunity to confront their attacker.

The night ended more or less peacefully. The injured couple were tended to. Luckily, their injuries weren't too severe for them to call the local doctor. Gaara didn't want to get treated at all and only with Sakura's persistence and the insistent solicitations from his friends did he let himself get treated, by Sakura, of course.

Sakura on the other hand, didn't want to involve strangers into their affairs. Thus, she convinced her classmates to leave the old doctor in the small village be. It was unnecessary to wake him up for a small injury such as hers. Her worst injury was her scarred right foot, nothing a bandage couldn't handle. Walking did hurt her, more than she liked to admit. Still, even though Gaara's feet were more seriously wounded, he didn't need crutches, unlike Sakura.

It did upset her that he didn't want to use them, but the redhead really didn't even seem to notice his own injury. After the shards were pulled out and his feet sanitized, her suspicions were confirmed. His soles were too thick to be normal for a teenager and several nasty scars could be seen.

The bandaging was the upper limit of his patience and he bounced off right afterwards, as if nothing happened, leaving the crutches behind for Sakura to use. After that, they finally called it a day and went to sleep. Or so their classmates thought.

Gaara had approached her later and told her, that he recognized the attacker being the new guy. Strangely, he couldn't remember anything else, aside from the glasses that were thrown by their new classmate. And Sakura left it at that. _It might be better for him like this._ How he managed to see anything in the darkness was a mystery to her. Nevertheless, she decided to confront Sai.

Said-guy proceeded to ignore her half-screamed question and walked towards the exit. Unexpectedly, he was harshly held back by the pink-haired class rep. "Why did you-"

Sakura was interrupted by his sudden turn. He grabbed her hand with his own and twisted it. At the same time, Gaara had yanked her backwards into his chest, before the blank guy could twist her hand in a painful way and lock it forcefully. Sakura lost her crutches in the process and they fell limply on the wooden ground, forgotten by everyone.

"You want to know why?" From one moment to the next, the emotionless boy turned into a furious one. Confused, Sakura noticed, that he wasn't looking at her though. Instead, he was staring angrily at Gaara. "I tell you why."

Sai was advancing dangerously, and Gaara in respond was roaring just as ferocious. Sandwiched between them both, Sakura tried to keep them away from each other. Spreading her arms wide, she kept Gaara behind her. Still, she was too distracted by the sudden change.

Her concentration was unfocused, and she struggled to keep the growling redhead behind her, while her eyes stayed glued on the unpredictable guy in front of her. Observing him silently for his next move. Obviously, she wasn't prepared for the onslaught of outrageous statement that were revealed to them and she lost her balance.

"You beast! You killed Konoha hunters! You killed my brother!" The hysteric guy spat out. Totally ignoring the nobody, he trudged behind her towards the shocked beast. As if a switch had been flicked, the redhead's attitude changed drastically. He was cowering away from the aggressive being, trying to make himself invisible while shaking his head, eyes wide and full of fear. It was no use, his assailant packed him by his shirt and harshly yanked him upwards.

"You and your damn monsters! How dare you play the innocent one?" The raging boy punched him hard in the face but didn't released him. "How dare you be so ignorant?" Another punch. Blood trickled out of the redhead's nose.

"Was it fun tearing them apart? To hear them scream for their lives?" The scared boy was disoriented and was searching frantically for Sakura. But his view got blocked by Sai. "You don't have to look for her. She's not going to help you. Not anymore. And you know why?"

Once more, Gaara was determined to ignore the attacker in front of him and instead, he was seeking for his pink-haired salvation. The redhead stretched his head out and finally managed to get a glimpse of her over the irritation's shoulder. Her back was still turned towards them and she hadn't moved an inch from her earlier fall on the wooden ground. It couldn't be that she hadn't heard them, right? Before he could call out to her, the new guy wrenched him back.

"Because you killed her father!"

Gaara hadn't even been focused on what the annoyance was madly yelling about, but when he caught Sakura's hard flinch, he belatedly grasped the content of this one dreadful sentence and immediately stilled.

For a long time, the redhead was only staring at her back. Not blinking once, eyes fixed on her. He hadn't even noticed that her whole body was trembling, even if only minutely. Since when? Her head was sunken, as if drawn towards the ground. The bandages on her knees were slowly starting to color red. Gaara wanted to strain his ears to hear what she was doing.

Was she crying? Or was she angry? Was she even conscious? He would be able to grasp her state of mind, if only he could hear her.

Was she sniffling? How about her breathing? Was it even? But he didn't hear anything. There was only a loud ringing in his ears, and he could do nothing. Absolutely nothing to get it away.

The annoyance was blocking his sight on her again. Wild eyes filled with pure hatred. Never had he seen eyes with so much hatred. Directed at him.

He could see the punch coming, slowly as if daring him to dodge it. But his mind wasn't registering anything his eyes saw. Everything that didn't concern his pink-haired mate was useless information. His mate was hurt, and yet his body wasn't moving. Couldn't move. She wasn't in danger, so he just had to endure it.

The fist met his left cheek and Gaara flew backwards, colliding with the ground. He was released from the steel-like grip his assailant had on him. Finally, he felt something else aside from the pain in his chest region, a warm liquid was flowing out of his nose and dripped onto the ground. It was red.

Odd, it looked like blood, but he couldn't smell it.

Finally, the ringing in his ears stopped and time went on as usually. Blood was still flowing out of his nose. And he could feel his head was throbbing abnormally. However, his mind had never been this clear and focused. The mad guy was approaching him and with a last glance towards his mate he decided to retreat. He couldn't afford to get beaten up by this guy and there was no threat towards Sakura as of now.

"Why aren't you fighting back? EH? Stop playing the victim here!"

Swiftly, Gaara jumped back, unlocked the window and disappeared into the dawn. And not once did Sakura turn her head around.

* * *

Time went by. Sakura didn't know how much. And she didn't care. But she didn't want to think about it. Not yet. It was too incredible.

"_You killed Konoha hunters!"_

No, not that. So instead, she looked towards the wooden floorboard and traced its patterns with her fingers. The ground looked amazing.

Unknowingly, Sakura started to tremble. Too light to be noticed, if you aren't outright observing her intently, but still, her body wouldn't stop trembling.

"_Was it fun tearing them apart?"_

No. That wasn't it.

No, the pattern wasn't like any other she had seen. Her fingers pressed harder against the wood. She couldn't feel the wood.

Sakura became frantic. Why couldn't she feel the wood anymore? It was there just a moment ago! She could still see it, it was there, right in front of her.

"_To hear them scream for their lives?" _

Nonono. That wasn't right. It wasn't like she couldn't feel the wood anymore; it was her fingers. She couldn't feel her fingers.

Her fingers were trembling. Why? What happened? Whose hands are these? They must be hers. They were bandaged, the forefinger and the middle finger. Just like hers. From the bite last night. Yeah. The bite. Gaara bit her.

"_Because you killed her father!"_

NONONO-

She couldn't will them to stop trembling. Her breathing became uneven. She was getting hysteric. Slowly, she probed her bandaged fingers with her other hand. At least they were obeying her. Still, there was no pain, and she poked harder. The white turned into red. Fast. And yet, she still couldn't feel the pain. It couldn't be her hand. She didn't feel a thing. Nothing at all.

Suddenly, those strange fingers started to itch. So she scratched them. First slowly, but that only seemed to increase the itching. Then faster. It seemed to work, if only minutely. The bandages turned deep red in moments and blood started to drip. But Sakura couldn't feel the pain. Surely, there must be pain.

"_Because you killed her father!"_

The ache didn't want to lessen, and she applied more pressure to her scratch. Desperately trying to lessen the immense itch. The bandage loosened up.

Out of nowhere, she felt strong hands on her. They were trying to separate both hands. The itching worsened and she lashed out and clamped the aching fingers with her unhurt hand. The unfamiliar hands were really stubborn. And strong. But she wasn't one to give up without a fight.

The ache didn't stop and her urge to scratch it worsened. Her grip on the fingers tightened.

Suddenly, her head was lifted away from her bizarre hands, away from the beautiful ground and her eyes met a familiar face. Raven-haired with onyx eyes, looking both worried and mad at her. Accusing her. Of what? She didn't know.

A handsome face, really. Even the mouth was shaped beautifully. They were moving in a funny way. Saying something without producing sound. Looking up, she still couldn't think of who that was. He was definitely someone she knew. Who was it again?

Sakura tilted her head slightly, trying to think of who it was. Those thin lips, the way his nose was formed, the high cheekbones, the twitch of his eyebrows, there was certainly some-

_Sasuke_, her mind supplied all of a sudden.

_Yeah. Sasuke… Uchiha Sasuke. Uchiha-_

"_Because you killed her father!"_

Her breath hitched. Her eyes widened. Her mouth opened without her consent. The muscles there were straining, and it hurt to open her mouth, as if she had been pressuring her teeth to keep it tightly shut.

And then she screamed.

* * *

Sasuke didn't know what woke him up at this goddamn early hour. The first few rays of sunlight were slowly coming out and he almost thought he had dreamt the happenings of last night. But then he heard it. A mad knocking on their window.

Instantly awake, he turned towards the only window in the small bedroom and was met by one of his roommates. Their gazes met for only a split second and then the redhead vanished from his sight, but it was enough for Sasuke to spring into action.

Gaara looked so scared and was in a total panic, something was definitely wrong. Combined with the fact, that their room was on the third floor and Gaara had explicitly come to look for him – or maybe Naruto – there was no doubt that he wanted to get help.

"Wha- Sasuke? Where are yo-"

"Gaara was here just a moment ago. Something must have happened."

Sasuke was out of the door before Naruto could ask him more questions. Rounding around a corner, he came face to face with a half-naked Kakashi. Oddly, his face was still masked by his mouth mask, even though his chest was bare.

"Did Gaara-"

Not even waiting for him to finish his sentence, Kakashi-sensei only nodded once and flew down the stairs. Sasuke followed him stupefied. It was so surreal that his homeroom teacher was an ex-police officer, especially because Kakashi's attitude was always so easygoing and bored during classes.

But seeing him in action then was like meeting his secret lost twin. Someone who's eyes shone with attentiveness instead of dullness. Someone who took three steps at a time instead of loitering lazily around the stairs, just to read his pervy books.

And these facts frightened Sasuke more than he wanted to acknowledge. _Just what is going on? _When he arrived on the second floor, he barely managed to evade Kakashi, who took the next stairs down.

"-not in her room." The masked teacher murmured absentmindedly. In the time, Sasuke needed to rush down the stairs, the ex-officer had already checked the bedroom, but she wasn't there, and her other two roommates – one was missing and Kakashi stored this information away for later – were sleeping peacefully. So, he dashed back towards the stairs, passing Sasuke on the way.

_Who?_ The class rep wanted to ask, but he didn't dare distract his teacher. On the next flight of stairs, Sasuke finally managed to see what got Gaara so agitated. Sitting helplessly on the floor was Sakura, who was madly scratching her injured hand. The bandages on her knees had turned red, along with the blood dripping out of her bandaged fingers. Her crutches were discarded a few feet away.

She looked totally lost, sitting in the dark, alone and hurt. A total contrast to how she was just a few days ago, when Sasuke had told her how happy he was for her to have met Gaara.

_And the bastard just left her like that?_ Sasuke was fuming in anger.

Kakashi-sensei had repositioned himself behind her, after his attempt to separate her hands had failed miserably. Grabbing her fragile arms, he tried to yank them away from each other. "Sasuke! Break her hold! She's hurting herself!"

Stunned awake, he did as he was told. Grabbing her hand, he tried to loosen her grip she had on her bleeding fingers. But she didn't budge at all.

"Sakura! It's me! Hey!" The wounded girl didn't make a sound, although it must have hurt with how strong she was gripping her injured hand. He noticed how she was grinding her teeth forcefully.

And yet, she didn't seem to notice him. Sasuke wasn't even sure if she was actually seeing her hands and thus, Sasuke lightly raised her head with his finger.

"It's alright, Sakura. Everything is fine."

Her eyes were glazed over, but then, finally, she appeared to have noticed him, because her tremble receded gradually. Her green calm eyes were roaming his face, searching for something. But her grasp on her fingers stayed resolute.

From one moment to the next, her eyes widened in sheer panic, she opened her mouth and let out a desperate screech. Surprised by her reaction, Sasuke fell backwards, both in shock and hurt.

He had _never_ heard her screech like that before.

"Shit", _Tsunade-sensei is going to kill me_, Kakashi thought distracted. At least Sakura wasn't struggling anymore, both his students were too shocked to move. However, her clutch on her wounded hand still posed a problem.

Kakashi shifted from behind her to her left side and picked her up bridal style. _If Sasuke can't calm her down, then there's only one other way. _Which didn't involve violence at least. Racing up the flight of stairs to the third floor again, he spun around, while keeping Sakura safely tucked away from the wood pillars.

Her screaming must have alerted everyone, because some of her classmates were blocking the narrow corridor and he had to resort to yelling, _"Get back to your room!"_, for them to jump back in fear and surprise. They had never seen Kakashi-sensei this distraught and energetic and… bare.

_Please, Sakura. You don't want me to hurt you. And I'm already going to get punched around by Tsunade. Please don't make her kill me_, Kakashi chanted like a mantra.

The ex-officer sprinted to the door next to Sasuke's bedroom and entered it in a haste, with her balanced in his arms. Observant eyes locked onto his target and he was next to the bed in a flash. Carefully, the homeroom teacher laid his wounded student on the bed, right next to his last hope and prayed for her to ultimately calm down.

"Sakura!"

* * *

Author's note  
I do not own Naruto. This is purely for entertainment purposes.  
Two more chaps and this story goes into a temporary hiatus.  
Your reviews keep me motivated! Thanks so much! I'm open for any kind of criticism.  
Thank you for reading this story!


	10. The day her world ended

**Chapter 10 – The day her world ended**

_\- - - - - 2 years ago - - - - -_

"I'm sorry for your loss." The unknown police officer said with a dull voice. He bowed curtly and was on his way, back towards his life, trying hard to ignore the miserable scream that came out of the house he had just visited a few moments ago.

Sakura stood frozen stiff on the entrance, staring blankly in front of her. From inside the house, she could hear her mother's awful cry, but Sakura couldn't explain what just happened. She couldn't grasp the meaning of it.

The sky was bright blue and clear. It had been a while since the sun came out to greet the world. Not a single cloud was obscuring its view. The front garden was shining with pride, welcoming the warm sun and insects were chirping happily, dancing around the fresh air.

And in between them all stood a lost pink-haired girl with her Rilakkuma apron tied around her waist. Flour stains could be spotted here and there – she had been baking with her mother. Blinking twice, she noticed how people were murmuring behind their hands, giving her pitiful glances but nobody dared to approach her.

Still in a daze, Sakura slowly closed the front door behind her and locked it securely. Otherwise her mother was going to give her an earful again later. She sprinted out on the street and evaded the passersby. Her eyes locked onto the back of the unsuspecting police officer, who was sauntering lazily along the streets, distracting himself with his surroundings.

In seconds, Sakura caught up to him, grabbed his upper arm harshly and yanked him backwards. "What did you just say?"

Bewildered, the officer took a frightened step back. Even though he over towered her by more than a head, the meekly small girl had scared him shitless with how hard she had pulled him back accompanied by her strong grip on his arm. He hadn't even heard her frantic steps.

Spluttering nervously, he wrenched his arm free. The pink-haired girl had a frighteningly hard and yet blank stare. As if she was in a trance. She didn't even blink once, and it was hard to look away from those big green eyes. It felt like she was seeing right through his soul.

"I'm sorry for your loss, young girl."

The short girl grasped his arms once more and shook him hard with her meager arms. "Liar! You're a liar! He can't be-! Ho-"

Eventually, the officer snapped and ripped his arms free with a bit too much force. Staring at her unabashed, he was forcing himself to stay calm. This wasn't the first civilian who attacked him after his gruesome message. But he wasn't to blame for all their deaths. There was a certain limit and she overstepped it.

"How? Why?" The young girl asked him in a whisper. A sudden change in her demeanor, nothing the officer hadn't experienced yet. Sighing tiredly, he fixed his cap. Glancing around, he was met with several stares. Great, just what he needed.

"I don't know." He answered professionally. "I'm only the messenger, I don't know the details. I'm sorry."

Nodding one last time, he turned around and marched away. This time taking longer strides, carefully avoiding the crowd and the stares.

Sakura stood in the middle of the road for a few minutes. Her mind was working relentlessly for any possibilities, for all the ways he could have died. No. Impossible. It was supposed to be an easy job. He'd been on such tasks a hundred times before.

There was only one way to find out. Making up her mind, she sprinted southwards. Even though she could have returned home and took her bike – which would have ultimately made the endless long dash futile with a simple ten-minute ride –, she was simply too out of mind to realize that.

Running had never been this painful to her. Sakura had always prided herself in being one of the most athletic students in the class. Sprints and jogs have been her forte in sports. But her heart wasn't focused on the sprint at all. Her mind was all jumbled and at war with itself. Her legs felt like lead and she had to forcefully drag them behind her, one step after the other.

She stumbled on a ridiculously small bulge on the stone path and fell face-first. She must have scraped her hands and her knees, but she didn't register the pain. An old lady was kneeing beside her, talking to her, while waving a handkerchief in front of her face. She looked mildly concerned. Sakura took it on instinct, rubbing her hands with it stupidly. She didn't notice she had was crying until the lady was softly patting her face with another handkerchief.

The nice lady reminded her of her own mother, always so mindful and helpful. But thinking about her mother only fueled her determination to reach her destination as soon as possible. Sakura stood up on shaky feet and was already running again the next moment. Totally engrossed in her goal, she didn't even look back to thank the woman for her kindness. A first for her.

Her view on the street blurred over, now and then, she bumped into random people. But she didn't stop her sprint once. She looked like a mad girl dashing along the streets, freaking out several civilians. Too soon, her breathing started to get erratic, which was definitely not normal for her. And soon after, she felt a stitch.

Honks could be heard, and angry shouts came from the same vehicle. But they fell on deaf ears. Her pace slowed down immensely, just to pick up the next moment. And then, finally, she reached her destination.

The roads were quieter on this end of the village. Less passersby, meant less noise and less stares. Sakura could recognize the huge house, protruding over the other housings nearby. The villagers there didn't dare stop her, looking this distressed and frightened. Besides, she had ties to the main clan, so it wasn't a surprise to see her on their compound.

Sakura persisted against her body and dragged it tediously towards the entrance of the biggest building around, just to collapse right in front of the door. Luckily, the door swiped open before she managed to muster her remaining strength to do so.

"…I have t- Sakura!" Sasuke came out of the house, Itachi right behind him.

"Damn it", _we're too late_, Itachi thought angrily. Gently, Itachi picked her up and swiftly carried her back into the house. Sakura was crying softly, trying hard to control her annoying sobs in order to produce normal words. Her wounded hands were firmly clutching Itachi's shirt. "Shh… Calm down first, Sakura."

Laying her down just as gently on the sofa, he brushed her hair aside. Trying to keep her still. But Sakura was stubbornly propping up on her elbow. Laying down made her feel weak and sick.

Itachi sensed how his brother was unconsciously pushing him away, trying to get closer to his clearly upset and distraught girlfriend, but Sakura didn't loosen her grip of his shirt. She was solely focused on him, and thus, Itachi calmly stroked her head.

"Where is he?" She finally managed to force out between her painful sobs. "Why him?"

"I don't know." Itachi answered. And he really didn't. "Father is currently in a meeting with the Hokage and the council. I'm sorry." He whispered the last part.

"Liar. Where is he!" She was fiercely staring up into his calm eyes. He was always so calm. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if he showed any emotions sometimes aside from the calmness he always displayed. "You're the fucking police! You have to know!"

Sakura hit him, madly lashing out and Itachi let her. Watching her silently. She had always been an emotional person. "I just want to see him!" Sakura was starting to panic, her breathing turned irregular once more and along with that came her awful sobs.

"I need to. Please!" Her cries turned into shrieks, heart wrenching and painful. Fortunately, Itachi's mother went along with his father and aside from them, nobody else was at home. Or else it would have made a big ruckus. She was still endlessly hammering at him, with her small powerful fists. "Let me see him! PLEASE!"

All of a sudden, strong arms encircled her tiny body, holding her close to him. Preventing her from hurting anyone else. Big hands were stroking her hair, while firmly pressing her head to his chest. "The hunting group seemed to have advanced over to Wind country. Without permit. They lost their lives there."

Sakura stilled instantly. Her small sobs were the only sound interrupting Itachi every so often. "Our hands are tied. We can't investigate. The jurisdiction lies in Suna."

Sakura forcefully raised her head. Her eyes were red from all the crying, but what stunned Itachi was the lack of emotions in her gaze. Her green eyes were dull and blank. As if she was a robot, working only on battery. Never before had he seen such a lively joyful girl looking this empty.

"He's still alive." Sakura whispered in a daze. Her eyes were sporadically roaming around the room, unfocused and dishelmed. Itachi knew her brain was circling around the same thought, over and over again. She smiled. It looked crooked and broken and it irked him. "You can't prove he isn't. He's not- He can't be-"

"Sakura. We haven't been able to contact the team for days now. We sent a group to investigate in the forest. Nothing." It hurt Itachi to see her like that.

For a few moments she didn't say anything. Only stared and blinked. She had already stopped crying but then her lip was quivering again. Her face slowly contorted into a grimace and her body slumped.

Subsequently, the clutch she had on his shirt lessened. Her thin arms slid down, until they were oddly lying over his. Itachi shifted away and Sasuke took his place. Glancing one last time back, Itachi left them alone. Instead, he went to retrieve a basin and a towel from the kitchen.

"Hey." Unsure how to comfort her, Sasuke tenderly grasped her wounded hands in his and gave them each an awkward small kiss. As if suddenly awake by his action, Sakura jolted and stared wide-eyed at him. It was like she hadn't even known he was there the whole time and just noticed his presence.

"Sasuke!", Sakura exclaimed and held his hands firmly. Sliding closer to the sofa edge, her faces were inches apart from his and not expecting this reaction, Sasuke blushed slightly. It had been a while since they were this close.

"Please! Please ask your father to send more people to the forest! He must be there! I'm sure of it!" She pleaded desperately. Onyx eyes fell in sadness. "Itachi won't listen to me. But you'll listen, right?"

"Sakura…"

"You'd do me this favor, right? He's out there. I know it!"

Ashamed of himself, Sasuke shook his head. "You know that I can't ask my father-"

"Then, I'm going to ask him myself." Sakura interrupted him mid-sentence. Stubbornly, she released his hands and stood up briskly. Dumfounded, Sasuke was still sitting on the floor, when Sakura was almost at the front door.

Inches away from the door though, she was lifted by her waist and carried back to the sofa. Itachi let her down and pressed her down until her legs gave out and she plumped lifeless onto the comfy seat. He set the basin filled with water and the towel aside.

Itachi proceeded to slowly wipe out the grime and the dried blood out of her palms and her knees. Nobody said anything for a long time. Sakura was staring blankly in front of her, looking at something only she could see. Sasuke stayed on the floor, deeply sunken in his own thoughts and Itachi was methodically erasing the dirt out of sight.

Out of them all, Itachi was the only one who was keeping an eye on them both. Calculating and composed. And when Sasuke finally shifted into another position, scampering closer to Sakura, looking too hopeful to be appropriate for the situation, he decided to break the silence before his foolish brother could do so.

"We'll talk to Father." He promised. Nobody gave a reaction.

* * *

The world was mocking him. Kiba was sure of that. If only he didn't go out to the damned market that day. He usually didn't need to go to the market, so why did he go today, out of all days? Oh right, stupid Hana kicked him out to buy more dog food.

Unfortunately, when he finally came back with Akamaru, Hana didn't need the groceries anymore. She looked so out of mind, Kiba didn't recognize his sister at first. Wandering aimlessly around in their living room, even Totomaru was whining woefully, while watching her endless walk. Kiba noticed how the other two of the Three Haimaru Brothers weren't present. In fact, the whole house seemed to be empty aside from them.

"Hana? What happened?"

Immediately, Hana whirled around her brown eyes widened in fright. She stopped her nervous nail-biting and was in front of Kiba before he could settle down the groceries. Akamaru yapped and moved towards Totomaru, attempting to cheer his fellow clan member up.

"Have you seen Sakura?" Hana already knew that he didn't. If he did, he wouldn't be there right then, calm and collected. "We don't know where she is!"

"I'm not following you Hana. Chill out!" He dragged her to a chair and forced her to sit. Totomaru trudged over and lightly bumped his head against her leg and Hana patted him visibly distracted.

"The hunting group with Gaku-oji and Kizashi-oji are d-dead. Mebuki-oba just came over. She thought Sakura would be here. Mom took her to Uraha-oba now. But we can't find Sakura!"

"Stay here. I'm going to look for her and don't you dare panic on her, once she's here!" Kiba roared and was out of the door before he had finished his sentence, Akamaru barking right behind him.

He readied his bike and pedaled away within a few seconds. Curving Sakura's house, he discovered she had left without her bike, which would make things much more easier for him. There was still the possibility that she had taken the bus towards who knows where, but Kiba didn't think she would be able to sit still in such a situation. Rather than that, she would be running her way towards her destination, even if that was miles away. Yes, that was more like her.

"Akamaru. Can you get Sakura's scent?" Kiba asked his companion and Akamaru sniffed around the door entrance of her house. After rounding it twice he plodded along the road to the street, his muzzle staying low on the ground. Then, he lifted his head and barked joyfully.

"That's my boy!" Getting back onto his bike he cycled behind Akamaru. They stopped twice on their way. First, two streets away from Sakura's house, where Akamaru had to snuffle his way once more. The second time was in front of a busier road, where Akamaru relieved himself on the tree next to a bumpy road. Kiba sighed impatiently and had to remind Akamaru of his task again. He got another energetic bark as response and then they were on their way.

Kiba thought Sakura had been on her way towards the hospital or the main police building, which were both centered right in the heart of Konoha. Or even the Hokage building, which was situated northern from their residence area, but instead, they were pedaling in the opposite direction, away from the civilization.

_Just where are you headed, Sakura?_ Kiba was playing with the thought of her going right into the forest, in search of her father maybe, but then Akamaru changed direction and after they turned another corner, the Uchiha compound was in sight.

"Tch." Kiba snorted in annoyance. _Last time I checked they agreed to take a break from each other._ _I hope you know what you're doing._

On entering the Uchiha residence, he climbed off his bike and marched with purposeful strides towards the main housing. Akamaru obediently trudging next to him. Kiba prayed to whoever would listen to him, to get pass all the Uchihas without being addressed by any of them, but his silent prayers weren't heard by anyone.

"Do you have any business with us, Inuzuka-san?"

Kiba gave him a serious glance and proceeded to sidestep the middle-aged Uchiha. "If you want to, you can follow me to the mansion. I'm just here to get Sakura, Uchiha-san."

Fortunately, the Uchiha guy didn't question him further. However, he was following him, keeping an attentive eye on him. While Kiba was setting his bike aside, the middle-aged man was knocking politely on the front door.

They heard shuffles coming from behind the door and then Sasuke opened the door. He looked paler than usual and his eyes were wide open, as if in shock. Not like the usual arrogant proud Uchiha he knew.

"Inuzuka."

"Uchiha." The brown-haired boy acknowledged in a monotone voice. Without waiting for his permission to enter the house, he passed his classmate and kicked his shoes away, leaving them unorganized on the entrance.

His steps automatically picked up a pace and he was standing in the living room within seconds. Kiba's eyes laid on Sakura, who was sitting in her favorite apron on the sofa edge, staring blankly on the wall next to him. Tear-tracks adorned her pale face, but she wasn't crying. Itachi-san was kneeing in front of her, a first-aid kit was lying next to him and a basin filled with dirty water further away. Subsequently, Kiba realized that Sakura's knees were plastered.

"Saya-chan." Kiba whispered. It seemed like she had heard him, because she blinked, and her green dull eyes landed on him. She was up the next moment, shuffled away from Itachi and sprang into his open welcoming arms.

"Kiba-kun!" Sakura cried and her voice cracked. Holding her tightly, he cradled her head and caught her when her legs gave out, fully supporting her body. Slowly, they glided onto the carpeted floor. Her body started to tremble, and she was gripping him fiercely.

"Let it out, Sakura." Kiba whispered into her hair and held her even closer, waiting patiently for her. But she was still holding it up. She sobbed thinly, digging her nails painfully into his back.

"Let go of it, Sakura. You don't have to hold it back anymore."

Finally, she started to cry. Long agonizing wails filled the house. Endless sobs replaced by painful screams. Her voice was the only thing they heard for a while. And Kiba was holding her securely the whole time. Rubbing her back soothingly while covering her head with his. Even little Akamaru was snuggling close to her back, whining softly with her, comforting her with his small body.

Her cries soon turned into whimpers until she ultimately fell asleep in his arms. Tired and exhausted from the world and along with her, Akamaru too was sleeping peacefully, heavily leaning against her body.

"Do you want to take her upstairs to one of the guest rooms?" Itachi asked politely, breaking the tranquil silence that followed her scream.

But Kiba shook his head negative. "We'd appreciate it if someone could drive us back", pausing for a moment, he added, "Please."

Itachi nodded in understanding and left them alone to make a call. Sasuke was still standing in the hall next to the living room. He hadn't moved once; he had been silently watching her. He smirked to himself, a small sad smile.

"You always knew it wouldn't work between us." Sasuke remarked dejected.

Kiba looked over to him, as if seeing him for the first time. "No."

"How?"

"You don't deserve her." The dog-boy replied, too fast to be appropriate. As if he knew this question was coming. He waited for a reply and when he didn't get one, he continued. "She deserves someone who's devoted to her."

"Like you?" Sasuke spat with anger he didn't know he possessed.

Kiba gave him a serious look. "If you really think so, you've never understood her at all." _Bastard. I'll never understand why she loves you._

Kiba shifted and settled Sakura into a more comfortable position, laying her head on his shoulder while supporting her back with his leg. Sasuke wasn't sure if Kiba deliberately laid her down for him to be able to see her peaceful sleeping face. The dog boy could have placed her in a different direction, her back turned towards him, but Kiba didn't.

Akamaru rolled to Sakura's previous spot but on feeling no resistance, he woke up and blinked sleepily. Padding over to Sakura's leg he climbed on it and settled down again. Within moments, he fell into a content slumber.

"She deserves someone who isn't so engrossed in clan matters. Who's willing to go against his own father to be with her." Kiba gave him a meaningful look and Sasuke stared back just as fierce but didn't comment on it.

"That's all?"

Kiba sighed tiredly. He couldn't remember another time, where he had had such a long conversation with the raven-head before. There was always an awkward silence between them, which not even Sakura was able to dissolve. And she had tried it a couple of times too often for Kiba's liking.

"Well, if you insist, it was clear to me from the beginning because she couldn't be free around you. With how strict and traditional you were raised, and her laxer and more carefree surrounding, she wouldn't be able to be truly happy. No matter how much she loves you."

* * *

Author's note  
I do not own Naruto. This is purely for entertainment purposes.  
Somehow, I had the most fun with Akamaru here.  
Thank you for the awesome review! I love hearing your thoughts.  
Sorry for the late update and as always, thank you for reading this story.


	11. Above the lake and up a hill

**Chapter 11 – Above the lake and up a hill**

_\- - - - - At present - - - - -_

Ino woke up by noises coming from downstairs. It was faint but she had always been a light sleeper. Even the smallest creak from the wooden house would arouse her from her beauty sleep. Fortunately, she got accustomed to it.

Turning back around, she prepared herself to fall asleep again, seeing as the sky outside was still dark. Someone must have been hungry during the night. But when the voices still didn't stop after a while, she decided to reprimand whoever dared to scream in the middle of the night. She huffed and lightly stepped out of the bedroom. Oblivious to the fact, that she wasn't the only one out of her bed from the room.

The blonde student tightened her sleep robe securely over her pajama dress and progressed to descend the stairs. The voice got louder with every step she took, and she wondered how anyone could sleep through all this noise.

Ino recognized the voice, it belonged to Sai, which surprised her, because he usually wasn't one to scream. Soon after, she could hear snippets of conversation downstairs, and she abruptly stopped in the middle of the stairs.

"_You beast! You killed Konoha hunters!-"_

Ino shivered and gripped the railings harder.

_It can't be,_ Ino thought while shaking her head in denial. There were so many Konoha hunters. Yes, Kizashi-san wasn't the only one. It was just a coincidence. Ino talked herself into believing it. Still, the last incident where Konoha hunters died was two years ago.

_But how could Sai-kun know how the Konoha hunters died?_

Leaning heavily against the railings, she slid down and sat on the stairs. Running her hands nervously through her soft long hair. _Yeah. How?_

Her thoughts were swirling around Sakura again. Worrying about the moment she would get to know this. It would definitely break her apart once again. To know that her father died by the hands of- No. No, it wasn't him.

"_Because you killed her father!"_

Sai's scream scared her out of her thoughts. She heard a dull crash, as if someone was punched and then fell hard on the wooden ground. _They were fighting! _Ino thought and hurried down the remaining stairs. Once she passed another corner – still on the stairs –, she barely caught sight of Sai's back, who was walking out the front door and rushed behind him. Unaware of the other presence lingering in the back, unmoving and silent on the floor.

"Sai!" Ino cried and ran after him barefooted, right into the forest. Her pace slowed down immensely, once her feet touched the stony path, pricking her smooth flesh uncomfortably.

Sai didn't react at all. He kept trudging deeper into the forest, walking totally silent, as if he was floating over the ground. Ino ignored the stabbing stones and marched on, her long legs giving her the advantage to catch up on him before she lost him in the dark forest.

Wind came up, letting her thin clothes enclose her body, hindering her legs this minutely from reaching him. Inches before she grasped his arm, she remembered his… Wushu-trick and halted in her action. Instead of touching him, she harrumphed. "Sai-kun."

Eventually, he stopped in his track, but didn't immediately turn around. She heard him sigh, even if it was an infinitely small one. Then, he slowly twisted his head around. Ino opened her mouth, but before the words left her mouth, he snapped his head back. "Why did you follow me?"

Ino blinked. He was back to his normal self. Voice steady and calm, but his back was stiff. And his stance was rigid, more so than usual. She frowned and passed him so they could talk face-to-face.

Oddly, he spun around when he felt her intention. Even going so far as to step away from her and once again, she was faced with his back. Her brow twitched in irritation. "Why are you avoiding me?"

He hesitated and then, "Your attire is… inappropriate, Yamanaka-san."

Ino looked down on herself. _Inappropriate? This is inappropriate?_ Her robe was still safely tightened around her pajama. Nothing peeping out, aside from her smooth legs. "I'd like to talk to you while looking at you, Sai-kun. There's nothing inappropriate with my attire."

"There's nothing to talk about, Yamanaka-san." Sai replied politely and was already walking away. Out of options, the blonde decided to take the gamble.

"How come you know that it was Gaara-kun who killed the Konoha hunters?"

The seemingly composed boy actually stopped. He shifted on the spot, unsure of his next actions. But then he took off his black shirt, leaving him clad only in his black pants and shoes. Surprised by his action, Ino's eyes widened. His pale back was surprisingly muscular, for a guy this thin. She couldn't help herself but ogle, tracing the lines of his bare back with her curious blue eyes. Yes, he was indeed a beautiful well-built young man.

As it happened, she couldn't discern the pale ends – scars, which Sai had received from his grandfather so many years ago – from his naturally pale taint. The moonlight was dim, peaking out at random from behind the clouds and the overhanging tree branches didn't help in that matter.

"Wear this." Sai broke through her _inappropriate _thought. He was stretching his shirt out to her direction; his body still facing the other side. She moved slowly and put the shirt on. It smelled of him.

Subsequently, he turned, his back now facing their hut and blinked. Even though she was wearing his shirt, it looked totally different on her than on him. But he didn't linger on this bizarre thought. "How long have you been eavesdropping."

Ino glanced from his bare muscular chest up to his face and spluttered at his accusation.

"Long enough to know something's off." She decided to say and added. "We were only told that Konoha hunters were lost somewhere in Wind country. They lost their lives there, but nobody knows the cause. And the Konoha police wasn't allowed to investigate on this case. So why are you so sure it was Gaara-kun?"

Sai didn't understand. They weren't told? "Danzo-sama said the hunters were attacked by a pack of wolves. And that the Kazekage's son was one of them."

"This doesn't make sense. Even Itachi-senpai had never mentioned anything about wolves. And he was assigned to this case! Surely, there must be a mistake."

Sai blinked in confusion. _Why?_

From behind Sai, the first ray of sunshine shone through the forest. Indicating the start of a new day.

* * *

"Ino-kun." Looking up, Ino was met with the sight of Kakashi-sensei waiting for her. "Can I talk to you for a moment?"

After her talk with Sai, they had returned to the hut, him disoriented and deep in thought and her trying to lighten up his mood, chatting amiably next to him. Obviously, Ino completely lost her mind, when she found out that Sakura was actually present the whole-time during Sai-kun and Gaara-kun's fight. She pleaded with Kakashi-sensei to let her stay with Sakura for the day, but her teacher declined half-heartedly. Saying that Kiba was already watching over her.

Still, she was too worried and so she secretly made her way towards Kiba's room. She entered after knocking twice. Her eyes were instantly drawn to the pink-haired girl, who was silently sleeping on the bed. Her back was turned towards the door. Kiba sat unmoving on her other side, and after glancing up for a second, his eyes returned to her once again. Clearly dismissing her.

One of the monks volunteered to stay in the hut with Kiba and Sakura and the class proceeded on their schedule for that day. Hiking. Ino stayed close to Sai the whole trip long. And since Sai seemed adamant on being the last one, they formed the tail light.

"Sure, Kakashi-sensei." They waited until Sai and the other students had advanced further away.

"Where were you this morning?" Kakashi asked abruptly. His whole demeanor changed from lax to serious in a blink of an eye. His black eyes piercing right through her.

Stunned silent, Ino had to remind herself that this was Kakashi-sensei. Her lazy homeroom teacher, who was asking a normal question. _A bit too eager though._ "I was taking a walk in the forest."

"Alone?" Kakashi questioned, his mouth underneath his ever-present mask unmoving.

"No. With Sai." The blonde answered; a bit too harsh to be appropriate for a student. Either he didn't notice it, or he decided to ignore it. She crossed her arms and swallowed her irritation down. "Why?"

"And you were together the whole time?"

Instead of answering her question, or questioning their motives – two students alone in a dark big forest early morning – which would be more befitting of a reaction for a teacher, he decided to ask another entirely unnecessary question? Ino was confused and lied on a whim. "Yes."

Unconsciously, she looked away when she answered him, and Kakashi got his response. "I see." And just like that, he resumed their hike, following his students. Leaving a dumbfounded Ino behind.

_That's it? No wonder Kakashi-sensei's single. He's creepy_, Ino thought while sticking out her tongue behind his back childishly.

"Ino-kun." The ex-officer called out but didn't turn around. Still, Ino looked up at him innocently. Slowly, he turned his head around, his eyes still as fierce but his body slouched over again. "Don't hang around the wrong guys."

* * *

When Sakura woke up the next time, it was already dark outside. The moon illuminated the room in an unpleasant hue, and she spotted a shadow hushing over the window.

"Hey, Saya-chan." Noticing her shift, Kiba was next to her in a moment. He had been standing next to the window. "How are you feeling?"

Sakura sat up, momentarily disoriented. She had _that_ dream again. Her body felt weak and heavy and her muscle ached. This wasn't the room she shared with the girls. But then the events from the night before caught up to her and she sighed.

"Better." She whispered. Her voice felt rough and rusty and creaked like an old motor. "How long have I been sleeping?" She grabbed the cup of water he passed her gratefully and drank the whole cup in small gulps.

"Almost 18 hours." Kiba turned the lights on.

"That long? Why didn't you wake me!"

"I did! You were awake twice but dozed off right after. Don't you remember?"

She shook her head. Strangely, she couldn't hear a single noise besides her shifting. Not even the creak from the old wood or the whooshing sounds the windows made, when a strong gust was blowing. "Where is everyone?"

Kiba stayed silent and looked away. Something was wrong. Sakura got up, placed the cup on the night board next to the bed and approached him.

Unconsciously, she noticed the new bandage on her wounded fingers and her knee. Her right foot was still sore, but nothing she couldn't overplay. Her face stayed perfectly still.

"Where are they?" She repeated her question, her voice stronger this time. Finally, he was looking into her eyes. Intently watching her for any kind of reaction.

Naturally, she wasn't the only one, who had questions, but they could wait.

"Gaara disappeared. When they were hiking, he suddenly vanished. They've been searching for him 'till now, but they'll be back soon."

Shocked, Sakura stayed still. Kiba was holding her arms lightly but she stepped away from him. His arms sunk heavily back to his side.

"What do you want to do?" He asked instead and Sakura looked up. Her childhood friend was staring at her. Waiting patiently for her next words. _Yeah. What do I want to do? _She could let the redhead be. They were both confused about a lot of things. They needed some time to think things over.

_Just like how it was with Sasuke two years back_, Sakura thought disturbed. After that day, their relationship went off hill and they broke up. They hadn't talked about the whys and the hows. It just didn't feel right anymore. So they let time pass and the more time passed, the harder it was to talk about the past. It was fine with how things were. No pressure, no responsibility, no nothing. They were back to square one.

But she didn't want to leave things as they were with Gaara. It was a mistake to close Sasuke off back then too. They should have talked it over, instead of putting it off until no one dared to approach the other one, because something else came up.

Besides, Gaara had told her he didn't kill anyone. And she wanted to believe him. It was all a big misunderstanding. Yes, that was what it was. She even swore to help Gaara out and yet, here she was, running away from him at the first word of murderer. She had left him to fend for himself once again.

Sakura had never been more ashamed of herself. Just why was she always running away? Foolishly believing that with time, everything will settle back. Everything will turn out alright, but it never would be the same again. Losing Sasuke was enough. She wasn't going to lose Gaara too. Not him.

"I want to see him." She declared and stared back just as hard. Her green eyes shone with determination and all her confusion evaporated into thin air. This was the Sakura Kiba had known all these years.

He smiled and nodded in surrender. "Follow me."

Perplexed, she did, and they exited their cozy hut. Sakura wasn't sure how long and how far they walked. Kiba told her to wear her hiking shoes and she was grateful he did, because the road they took wasn't meant for an easy walk. Besides, her shoes were able to steady her foot, squeezing them just right in order to walk properly. They climbed over a hill, trekked on steep roads straight through the forest.

"Do you actually know where he is?" Sakura decided to break the silence after a while. Taking Kiba's outstretched hand she let him stabilize and half-drag her up another mound. They must have been walking half a mile now already.

Immediately after they stood on top of the high land, Kiba halted. He motioned lamely in front of them, towards the thick bush. "I'll be over here when you need me."

"Thank you, Kiba-kun." She hugged him with all her might, too much strength in Kiba's opinion, but he repressed a wince. He patted her softly on her head and waved while turning his back to her.

Walking straight into the bush, she came out on the other side and gaped openly at the sight. She was standing on a high cliff, in front of her the small warm-lighted village, with the temple beneath her, surrounded by the huge dark forest. The lake shimmered beautifully on the other side to her left, glowing powerful, as if small sparkling fairies were gliding over its surface, dancing the night away. _Fireflies_, her mind supplied helpfully.

"Sakura-kun." Gaara's voice surprised her and she looked up. Perched on a high tree branch, he was watching her every shift. In the dim moonlight, his hair shone blood-red, just like the first time she had met him. Her heart pounded.

He was clad only in his shorts and she thought she could see his backpack hanging on another tree branch next to him. He was sporting his poker face again and she felt a stab in her chest. It had been a while since he had worn one around her. Instantly, she looked away, dismissing the pain. Instead, her eyes focused on the tree in front of her. She wasn't there to be reminded of the gap between them, she was there to talk to him. Face-to-face.

Since he didn't seem to be coming down anytime soon, Sakura decided to go up to him alternatively. It was harder and more ridiculous than she thought it would be. She used to climb trees all the times! So why did it feel so different now? Huffing and cursing her way up, one tree branch after the after, she made a stop when there was an inaccessible gap between the next branch and her outstretched arms.

_How did he get up there?_ Sakura stood up on her tiptoes, trying to reach the branch above her, but she jolted minutely and slipped on the branch. Her right foot protested vehemently against her action. She hadn't climbed too high, so the fall wouldn't be too fatal. Still, her right foot was injured so instinctively, she tried to land on her left foot.

The impact never came, because Gaara had caught her safely before her body even came remotely close to the ground. He landed on the floor with a soft step. The wind spread out on impact, grass and leaves rattled in accordance but there wasn't much of a sound his landing produced. Almost as if he was floating. Slowly, he stood up and put her down.

"Thank you, Gaara-kun." Sakura finally managed to say and gave him an honest smile. Gaara blushed a bit, unseen by Sakura, and his poker face vanished instantly. She was still holding onto his arm and he didn't mind it at all. "I wanted to see you."

Once again, Sakura was looking over at the night scene before them and Gaara mimicked her. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Sakura whispered.

Gaara nodded. They listened to the chirping of crickets and the hooting of owls. Both occupied with their own thoughts, seeing and unseeing the landscape in front of them.

"What have you been doing here, Gaara-kun?" Sakura was the first one to break the silence. That wasn't the question she wanted to ask, but she didn't want to ambush him out of nowhere.

Gaara hesitated, but then he admitted. "I… I can't find them." Sakura turned her attention to him, having heard his insecurity in his shaky voice.

"Who?"

"The wolves." Gaara was looking out again, his eyes restlessly searching for his companions. The village, the forest, the lake, nothing.

Sakura too was staring at the scenery, this time focused on something else aside from the magnificent view. _He had been searching for his pack._ She turned her head and glanced up the big tree. It was definitely one of the highest trees around, over towering the whole place and combined with the location – they were up a hill – the best place for a lookout.

_I'm the worst_, Sakura thought her lips firmly pressed against each other. While she had been running away, sleeping her time away, Gaara had been searching for his family. she was occupied with the scenery.

Sakura opened her mouth, her lips wavering for the next words, but he interrupted her. "The humans in the temple said there were wolves living in this forest. I've been searching the whole forest, but I couldn't find anyone."

His head turned frantic in despair, from one side to the other, eyes unfocused and body ready to spring into action at the smallest hint.

Her hands automatically grabbed his head softly, turning them towards her, looking deep into his distracted jade eyes. "The monks said there haven't been any around, Gaara-kun. They must have left."

Still in a haste, his eyes weren't meeting hers and in the spur of the moment she pointed mechanically towards the open night sky. Two sets of eyes followed her digit finger.

"Do you know why I love the sky?"

Without waiting for an answer, she continued, eyes never leaving the infinite dark sky.

"No matter where you are, remember that we're all living under the same sky. Watching the same stars. Greeting the same sun and the same moon."

She could hear how Gaara's breathing became even once more. Standing side by side, they were looking deep into the night. Sakura intertwined her hands behind her back and resumed in a serene voice.

"Whenever I feel lonely, I'll look up at the sky, thinking that we're all seeing the same endless wide sky. Naruto, Hinata-chan, Ino-pig, Kiba-kun, Sasuke, our classmates, our teacher, Yashamaru-san, you, and me."

She paused slightly and then added in a whisper. "Even your mother. And my father. I'm sure they're watching us."

A long silence followed her declaration. The noises seemed to settle down and in the back of her mind, Sakura registered that the lights in their hut went on, just next to the lake and obscured by the trees. It felt like the world had created a barrier, time stood still, with only them safely in their own small bubble.

"I… Didn't. I didn't kill- My mother-"

Sakura didn't interrupt him, but she lightly touched his hands with hers. Interlacing their fingers, his rough caroused palm firmly pressed against her soft bandaged one. Wound against wound. Gaara looked over but Sakura was keeping her gaze upfront, watching the lights above them.

Gaara took a deep breath and resumed. "My mother went out of control. I'm sorry."

Her fingers tightened around his fingers and he gave her hand a squeeze just as firm. They fell in a tranquil silence once again. Hands strongly gripping each other, neither of them willing to let go. As if to assure them that they weren't alone.

"There was a time, where I- Where my mom and I went to the forest every night. To search for my dad. We even took off to search him in other forests and hospitals around the Fire country."

Her voice was calm, but her fingers were shaking. From the corner of his eyes, he saw her watching the village in front of them, so Gaara did the same. He didn't glance at her, and only increased his grip on her hand. Steadying her, comforting her with only this painful touch. Not once did he interrupt her. And that was enough for her to continue.

"We couldn't believe that he- That he was gone. The funeral was so… So unrealistic. There was no body to bury, no body-" Sakura swallowed and harshly blinked her tears away.

"I'm glad this nightmare finally ended." She whispered to no one in particular. Sakura took several deep breaths to calm herself down. Her hands had stopped shaking. Gaara was engulfing her with his naked torso. Slowly, he lapped her face clean and Sakura kept herself grounded by his whole being.

His tongue scampered over her cheek to her eyes back to her chin and up to her mouth. His strong arms encircled her waist keeping her steady and close and even though he wasn't much bigger than her, she felt as if a bear was hugging her. Warm and safe.

She wasn't crying, no physical tears managed to get out, but Gaara still licked her face clean. Unconsciously, Sakura's hands were lightly brushing against his torso, naked and cool. Small scars adorned his body and her fingers were tracing after them.

Gaara growled lowly at her ministrations – unfamiliar with her touch but liking it nevertheless – and pressed her body closer to his. His sudden aggression and the loss of contact on her face made her look up. His face was inches away from hers. Eyes confused and uncertain but longing and hopeful.

Obscured by the trees and free from all the stares, their sole witnesses, the bright moon shining above them and the sparkling stars. Up a hill two pounding hearts found each other, and, in a daze, she kissed him.

* * *

Author's note  
I do not own Naruto. This is purely for entertainment purposes.  
I'm leaving it like this as of now. The story is clearly not finished, but this is a good moment to stop. Please be patient with me.  
I don't have any excuses for my lateness. I didn't even edit this chap as of yet.  
Thanks for all the favorites, follows and reviews. Know that I appreciate all of them!  
To everyone who read this story up to here, THANK YOU and see you soon (hopefully)!


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